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ITALIAN POPULAR TALES 



THOMAS FREDERICK CRANE, A. M, 

PROFESSOR OP THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES 
IN CORNELL UNIVERSITY 






1 7 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 



a< 



Copyright, t88s, 
By THOMAS FREDERICK CRANE. 

All rights reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge : 
Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. 



To 

GIUSEPPE PITRE. 



$ 



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PREFACE. 



The growing interest in the popular tales of Europe has 
led me to believe that a selection from those of Italy would 
be entertaining to the general reader, and valuable to the 
student of comparative folk-lore. 

The stories which, with but few exceptions, are here pre- 
sented for the first time to the English reader, have been 
translated from recent Italian collections, and are given 
exactly as they were taken down from the mouths of the 
people, and it is in this sense, belonging to the people, 
that the word popular is used in the title of this work. I 
have occasionally changed the present to the past tense, 
and slightly condensed by the omission of tiresome repe- 
titions ; * but otherwise my versions follow the original 
closely, too closely perhaps in the case of the Sicilian tales, 
which, when recited, are very dramatic, but seem disjointed 
and abrupt when read. 

The notes are intended to supplement those of Pitre and 
Kohler by citing the stories published since the Fiabe, 
Novelle e Racconti, and the Sicilianische Marchen, and also 
to furnish easy reference to the parallel stories of the rest 
of Europe. As the notes are primarily intended for stu- 
dents I have simply pointed out the most convenient 
sources of information and those to which I have had ac- 

* Other condensations are indicated by brackets. 



VI PREFACE. 

cess. My space has obliged me to restrict my notes to 
what seemed to me the most important, and I have as a 
rule given only references which I have verified myself. 

My object has been simply to present to the reader and 
student unacquainted with the Italian dialects a tolerably 
complete collection of Italian popular tales ; with theories 
as to the origin and diffusion of popular tales in general, 
or of Italian popular tales in particular, I have nothing to 
do at present either in the text or notes. It is for others 
to draw such inferences as this collection seems to war- 
rant. 

It was, of course, impossible in my limited space to do 
more than give a small selection from the class of Fairy 
Tales numbering several hundred ; of the other classes 
nearly everything has been given that has been published 
down to the present date. The Fairy Tales were selected 
to represent as well as possible typical stories or classes, 
and I have followed in my arrangement, with some modifi- 
cation and condensation, Hahn's Marchen- und Sagformeln 
(Griechiscke und Albanesische Marchen, vol. i. p. 45), an 
English version of which may be found in W. Henderson's 
Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England 
and the Borders. With an Appendix on Household Stories, 
by S. Baring-Gould. London, 1866. 

In conclusion, I must express my many obligations to 

Dr. Giuseppe Pitre, of Palermo, without whose admirable 

collection this work would hardly have been undertaken, 

and to the library of Harvard College, which so generously 

throws open its treasures to the scholars of less favored 

institutions. 

T. F. CRANE. 

Ithaca, N. Y., September 9, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction ix 

Bibliography xix 

List of Stories xxix 

I. Fairy Tales i 

II. Fairy Tales Continued 97 

III. Stories of Oriental Origin 149 

IV. Legends and Ghost Stories 185 

V. Nursery Tales 240 

VI. Stories and Jests 275 



Notes . . . . • 317 

List of Books referred to . .. . . . . 384 

Index 387 



INTRODUCTION. 



By popular tales we mean the stories that are handed 
down by word of mouth from one generation to another of 
the illiterate people, serving almost exclusively to amuse 
and but seldom to instruct. These stories may be roughly 
divided into three classes : nursery tales, fairy stories, and 
jests. In countries where the people are generally edu- 
cated, the first two classes form but one ; where, on the 
other hand, the people still retain the credulity and sim- 
plicity of childhood, the stories which with us are confined 
to the nursery amuse the fathers and mothers as well as 
the children. These stories were regarded with contempt 
by the learned until the famous scholars, the brothers 
Grimm, went about Germany some sixty years ago collect- 
ing this fast disappearing literature of the people. The 
interesting character of these tales, and the scientific value 
attributed to them by their collectors, led others to follow 
their footsteps, and there is now scarcely a province of 
Germany that has not one or more volumes devoted to its 
local popular tales. The impulse given by the Grimms was 
not confined to their own country, but extended over all 
Europe, and within the last twenty years more than fifty 
volumes have been published containing the popular tales 
of Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany, 
England, Scotland, France, Biscay, Spain, Portugal, and 
Greece. Asia and Africa have contributed stories from 
India, China, Japan, and South Africa. In addition to 
these we have now to mention what has been done in this 
field in Italy. 



X INTRODUCTION. 

From their very nature the stories we are now consider- 
ing were long confined to the common people, and were 
preserved and transmitted solely by oral tradition. It did 
not occur to any one to write them down from the lips of 
the people until within the present century. The exist- 
ence of these stories is, however, revealed by occasional 
references, and many of them have been preserved, but 
not in their original form, in books designed to entertain 
more cultivated readers. 1 The earliest literary collection 
of stories having a popular origin was made in the six- 
teenth century by an Italian, Giovan Francesco Straparola, 
of Caravaggio. 2 It is astonishing that a person of Strapa- 
rola's popularity should have left behind him nothing but 
a name. We only know that he was born near the end of 
the fifteenth century at Caravaggio, now a small town half 
way between Milan and Cremona, but during the Middle 
Ages an important city belonging to the duchy of Milan. 
In 1550 he published at Venice a collection of stories in the 
style of the Decameron, which was received with the great- 
est favor. It passed through sixteen editions in twenty 
years, was translated into French and often printed in that 
language, and before the end of the century was turned 
into German. The author feigns that Francesca Gonzaga, 
daughter of Ottaviano Sforza, Duke of Milan, on account 
of commotions in that city, retires to the island of Murano, 
near Venice, and surrounded by a number of distinguished 
ladies and gentlemen, passes the time in listening to stories 
related by the company. Thirteen nights are spent in this 
way, and seventy-four stories are told, when the approach 
of Lent cuts short the diversion. These stories are of the 
most varied form and origin ; many are borrowed without 
acknowledgment from other writers, twenty-four, for exam- 
ple, from the little known Morlini, fifteen from Boccaccio, 
Sachetti, Brevio, Ser Giovanni, the Old-French fabliaux, 
the Golden Legend, and the Romance of Merlin. Six 
others are of Oriental origin, and may be found in the 
Pantschatantra, Forty Viziers, Siddhi Kur, and Thousand 
and One Nights, , 3 There remain, then, twenty-nine stories, 



INTRODUCTION. xi 

the property of Straparola, of which twenty-two are mdr- 
chen, or popular tales. We say "the property" of Strapa- 
rola : we mean they had never appeared before in the 
literature of Europe, but they were in no sense original 
with Straparola, being the common property which the 
Occident has inherited from the Orient. There is no need 
of mentioning in detail here these stories as they are fre- 
quently cited in the notes of the present work, and one, 
the original of the various modern versions of "Puss in 
Boots," is given at length in the notes to Chapter I. 4 Two 
of Straparola's stories have survived their author's oblivion 
and still live in Perrault's " Peau d'Ane" and " Le Chat 
Botte" while others in the witty versions of Madame D' Aul- 
noy delighted the romance-loving French society of the 
seventeenth century. 5 Straparola's work had no influence 
on contemporary Italian literature, and was soon forgotten, 
— an unjust oblivion, for to him belongs the honor of hav- 
ing introduced the Fairy Tale into modern European litera- 
ture. He has been criticised for his style and blamed for 
his immorality. The former, it seems to us, is not bad, 
and the latter no worse than that of many contemporaneous 
writers who have escaped the severe judgment meted out 
to Straparola. 

We find no further traces of popular tales until nearly a 
century later, when the first edition of the celebrated Pen- 
tamerone appeared at Naples in 1637. Its author, Giam- 
battista Basile (known as a writer by the anagram of his 
name, Gian Alesio Abbatutis), is but little better known to 
us than Straparola. He spent his youth in Crete, became 
known to the Venetians, and was received into the Acade- 
mia degli Stravaganti. He followed his sister Adriana, a 
celebrated cantatrice, to Mantua, enjoyed the duke's favor, 
roamed much over Italy, and finally returned to Naples, 
near where he died in 1632. 6 The Pentamerone, as its title 
implies, is a collection of fifty stories in the Neapolitan 
dialect, supposed to be narrated, during five days, by ten 
old women, for the entertainment of the person (Moorish 
slave) who has usurped the place of the rightful princess. 7 



xii introduction; 

Basile's work enjoyed the greatest popularity in Italy, and 
was translated into Italian and into the dialect of Bologna. 
It is worthy of notice that the first fairy tale which ap- 
peared in France, and was the avant-coureur of the host 
that soon followed under the lead of Charles Perrault, 
" U Adroit e Princesse" is found in the Pentamerone? We 
know nothing of the sources of Basile's work, but it con- 
tains the most popular and extended of all European tales, 
and must have been in a great measure drawn directly from 
popular tradition. The style is a wonderful mass of con- 
ceits, which do not, however, impair the interest in the 
material, and it is safe to say that no people in Europe 
possesses such a monument of its popular tales as the 
Pentamerone. Its influence on Italian literature was not 
greater than that of Straparola's Piacevoli Notti. From 
the Pentamerone Lorenzo Lippi took the materials for the 
second cantare of his Malmantile Racquistato, and Carlo 
Gozzi drew on it for his curious fiabe, the earliest dram- 
atizations of fairy tales, which, in our day, after amusing 
the nursery, have again become the vehicles of spectac- 
ular dramas. Although there is no proof that Mile. Lhe- 
ritier and Perrault took their stories from Straparola and 
the Pentamerone, there is little doubt that the French 
translation of the former, which was very popular (Jannet 
mentions fourteen editions between 1560 and 1726) awak- 
ened an interest in this class of stories, and was thus the 
origin of that copious French fairy literature, which, be- 
sides the names mentioned above, includes such well-known 
writers as Mde. D'Aulnoy, the Countess Murat, Mile. De 
La Force, and Count Caylus, all of whom drew on their 
Italian prototypes more or less. 9 

Popular as were the two collections above mentioned 
they produced but one imitation, La Posillecheata, a collec- 
tion of five stories in the Neapolitan dialect and in the 
style of the Pentamerone, by Pompeo Sarnelli, Bishop of 
Bisceglie, whose anagram is Masillo Reppone. The first 
edition appeared at Naples in 1684, and it has been re- 
published twice since then at the same place. The work 



INTRODUCTION. xiii 

is exceedingly coarse, and has fallen into well-deserved 

oblivion. 10 

Nearly two centuries elapsed before another collection of 
Italian tales made its appearance. The interest that the 
brothers Grimm aroused in Germany for the collection and 
preservation of popular traditions did not, for obvious rea- 
sons, extend to Italy. A people must first have a con- 
sciousness of its own nationality before it can take suffi- 
cient interest in its popular literature to inspire even its 
scholars to collect its traditions for the sake of science, to 
say nothing of collections for entertainment. In i860, 
Temistocle Gradi, of Siena, published in his Vigilia di 
Pasqua di Ceppo, eight, and in his Saggio di Letterature 
varie, 1865, four popular tales, as related in Siena. These 
were collected without any other aim than that of enter- 
tainment, but are valuable for purposes of comparison. No 
attempt at a scientific collection of tales was made until 
1869, when Professor De Gubernatis published the Novel- 
line di Santo Stefano, containing thirty-five stories, pre- 
ceded by an introduction on the relationship of the myth 
to the popular tale. This was the forerunner of numerous 
collections from the various provinces of Italy, which will 
be found noted in the Bibliography. The attention of 
strangers was early directed to Italian tales, and the earli- 
est scientific collection was the work of two Germans, 
Georg Widter and Adam Wolf, who published a translation 
of twenty-one Venetian tales in the Jahrbuch fur romanische 
und englische Literatur, Vol. VII. (1866), pp. 1-36, 121- 
154, 249-290, with comparative notes by R. Kohler. In 
the same volume were published, pp. 381-400, twelve tales 
from Leghorn, collected by Hermann Knust; and finally 
the eighth volume of the same periodical, pp. 241-260, con- 
tains three stories from the neighborhood of Sora, in Na- 
ples. In 1867 Schneller published at Innsbruck a German 
translation of sixty-nine tales, collected by him in the Ital- 
ian Tyrol. Of much greater interest and importance than 
any of the above are the two volumes of Sicilian tales, col- 
lected and translated into German by Laura Gonzenbach, 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

afterwards the wife of the Italian general, La Racine. 
There are but two . other collections of Italian stories by 
foreigners: Miss Busk's Folk-Lore of Rome, and the anony- 
mous Tuscan Fairy Tales recently published. 

The number of stories published, in German and Eng- 
lish, is about twice as many as those published in Italian 
before Pitre s collection, being over four hundred. Pitre 
contains more than all the previous Italian publications to- 
gether, embracing over three hundred tales, etc., besides 
those previously published by him in periodicals and else- 
where. Since Pitre s collection, the three works of Com- 
paretti, Visentini, and Nerucci, have added one hundred 
and eighty tales, not to speak of wedding publications, con- 
taining from one to five stories. It is, of course, impossi- 
ble to examine separately all these collections, — we will 
mention briefly the most important. To Imbriani is due 
the first collection of tales taken down from the mouths of 
the people and compared with previously published Italian 
popular tales. In 1871 appeared his Novellaja fiorentina, 
and in the following year the Novellaja Milanese. These 
two have been combined, and published as a second edi- 
tion of the Novellaja fiorentina, containing fifty Floren- 
tine and forty-five Milanese tales, besides a number of 
stories from Straparola, the Pentamerone, and the Italian 
novelists, given by way of illustration. The stories are 
accompanied by copious references to the rest of Italy, and 
Liebrecht's references to other European parallels. It is 
an admirable work, but one on which we have drawn but 
seldom, restricting ourselves to the stories in the various 
dialects as much as possible. The Milanese stories are in 
general very poor versions of the typical tales, being dis- 
torted and fragmentary. In 1873 Dr. Giuseppe Pitre, of 
Palermo, well known for his collection of popular Sicilian 
songs, published three specimens of a collection of Sicilian 
popular tales, and two years later gave to the world his 
admirable work, Fiabe, Novelle e Racconti, forming vols. IV.- 
VII. of the Biblioteca delle Tradizioni populari Siciliane per 
cura di Giuseppe Pitre. It is not, however, numerically 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

that Pitre's collection surpasses all that has previously been 
done in this field. It is a monument of patient, thorough 
research and profound study. Its arrangement is almost 
faultless, the explanatory notes full, while the grammar and 
glossary constitute valuable contributions to the philology 
of the Italian dialects. In the Introduction the author, 
probably for the first time, makes the Sicilian public ac- 
quainted with . the fundamental principles of comparative 
mythology and its relation to folk-lore, and gives a good 
account of the Oriental sources of the novel. He has, it 
seems to us, very properly confined his notes and compari- 
sons entirely to Italy, with references of course to Gonzen- 
bach and Kohler's notes to Widter-Wolf when necessary. 
In other words, his work is a contribution to Italian folk- 
lore, and the student of comparative Aryan folk-lore must 
make his own comparisons : a task no longer difficult, 
thanks to the works of Grimm, Hahn, Kohler, Cox, De 
Gubernatis, etc. The only other collection that need be 
mentioned here is the one in the Canti e Racconti del Po~ 
polo italiano, consisting of the first volume of the Novellino 
pop. ital. pub. ed ill. da Dom. Comparetti, and of Visentini's 
Fiabe Mantovane. The stories in both of the above works 
are translated into Italian. In the first there is no arrange- 
ment by locality or subject; and the annotations, instead of 
being given with each story, are reserved for one of the 
future volumes, — an unhandy arrangement, which detracts 
from the value of the work. 

We will now turn our attention from the collections 
themselves to the stories they contain, and examine these 
first as to their form, and secondly as to their contents. 

The name applied to the popular tale differs in various 
provinces, being generally a derivative of the Latin fabida. 
So these stories are termed favuli and frauli in parts of 
Sicily, favole in Rome, fiabe in Venice, foe in Liguria, and 
fole in Bologna. In Palermo and Naples they are named 
cunti, novelle and novelline in Tuscany, esempi in Milan, 
and storie in Piedmont. 11 There are few peculiarities of 
form, and they refer almost exclusively to the beginning 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

and ending of the stories. Those from Sicily begin either 
with the simple "ccera" (there was), or " 'na vota ccera" 
(there was one time), or " si raccunta chi 'na vota ccera " (it 
is related that there was one time). Sometimes the formula 
is repeated, as, "si cunta e s' arricunta " (it is related and re- 
lated again), with the addition at times of "a lor signuri" 
(to your worships), or the story about to be told is quali- 
fied as " stu bellissimu cuntu " (this very fine story). Ordi- 
narily they begin, as do our own, with the formula, " once 
upon a time there was." The ending is also a variable for- 
mula, often a couplet referring to the happy termination 
of the tale and the relatively unenviable condition of the 
listeners. The Sicilian ending usually is : — 

" Iddi arristaru filici e cuntenti, 
E nuatri semu senza nenti." 

(They remained happy and contented, and we are without 
anything.) The last line often is "E nui semu cca munnamu 
li denti " (And here we are picking our teeth), or " Ma a 
nui 'un ni desinu nenti 1 ' (But to us they gave nothing), 
which corresponds to a Tuscan ending : — 

" Se ne stettero e se la goderono 
E a me nulla mi diedero." 

(They stayed and enjoyed it, and gave nothing to me.) A 
common Tuscan ending is : — 

" In santa pace pia 
Dite la vostra, ch' io detto la mia." 

(In holy pious peace tell yours, for I have told mine.) In 
some parts of Sicily (Polizzi) a similar conclusion is found : — 

" Favula scritta, favula ditta ; 
Diciti la vostra, ca la mia e ditta." 

(Story written, story told ; tell yours, for mine is told.) So 
in Venice, — 

" Longa la tua, curta la mia ; 
Conta la tua, che la mia xe finia." 

(Long yours, short mine ; tell yours, for mine is ended.) 
The first line is sometimes as follows : — 



INTRODUCTION. XV11 

" Stretto il viuolo, stretta la via ; 
Dite la vostra, ch' io detto la mia." 

(Narrow the path, narrow the way ; tell yours, for I have 
told mine.) The most common form of the above Tuscan 

ending is : — 

" Stretta e la foglia e larga e la via, 
Dite la vostra che ho detto la mia." 

(Narrow is the leaf, broad is the way, etc.) This same 
ending is also found in Rome. 12 These endings have been 
omitted in the present work as they do not constitute an 
integral part of the story, and are often left off by the nar- 
rators themselves. The narrative is usually given in the 
present tense, and in most of the collections is animated 
and dramatic. Very primitive expedients are employed to 
indicate the lapse of time, either the verb indicating the 
action is repeated, as, " he walked, and walked, and walked," 
a proceeding not unknown to our own stories, or such ex- 
pressions as the following are used: Cuntu 'un porta tempu, 
or lu cuntu 'un metti tempu, or 'Ntra li cunti nun cc'e 
tempu, which are all equivalent to, " The story takes no 
note of time." These Sicilian expressions are replaced in 
Tuscany by the similar one : // tempo delle novelle passa 
presto (" Time passes quickly in stories "). Sometimes the 
narrator will bring himself or herself into the story in a 
very naive manner ; as, for example, when a name is wanted. 
So in telling a Sicilian story which is another version of 
" The Fair Angiola " given in our text, the narrator, Gna 
Sabbedda, continues : " The old woman met her once, and 
said : ' Here, little girl, whose daughter are you ? ' " Gna 
Sabbedda's, for example ; I mention myself, but, however, I 
was not there." 13 

If we turn our attention now to the contents of our 
stories we shall find that they do not differ materially from 
those of the rest of Europe, and the same story is found, 
with trifling variations, all over Italy. 14 There is but little 
local coloring in the fairy tales, and they are chiefly inter- 
esting for purposes of comparison. We have given in our 
text such a copious selection from all parts of the country 
b 



XV111 INTRODUCTION. 

that the reader can easily compare them for himself with 
the tales of other lands in their more general features. If 
they are not strikingly original they will still, we trust, be 
found interesting variations of familiar themes ; and we 
shall perhaps deem less strange to us a people whose chil- 
dren are still amused with the same tales as our own. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni popolari. Rivista tri- 
mestrale diretta da G. Pitre e S. Salomone-Marino. Palermo, 
1882-1885. 8vo. 

The following popular tales have been published in the Archi- 
vio: Novelle popolari toscane, edited by G. Pitre, vol. I. pp. 35-69, 
183-205, 520-540; vol. II. pp. 157-172. La Storia del Re Crin, 
collected by A. Arietti [Piedmont], vol. I. pp. 424-429. Cuntu di 
lu Ciropiddhu, novellina popolare messinese, collected by T. Can- 
nizzaro, vol. I. pp. 518-519. Novelle popolari sarde, collected by 
P. E. Guarnerio, vol. II. pp. 19-38, 185-206, 481-502; vol. III. 
pp. 233-240. La Cenerentola a Parma e a Camerino, collected by 
Caterina Pigorini-Beri, vol. II. pp. 45-58. Fiabe popolari crennesi 
\_provincia di Miland\, collected by V. Imbriani, vol. II. pp. 73-81. 
Fiaba veneziana [== Pitre, xxxix.J, collected by Cristoforo Pasqua- 
ligo, vol. II. pp. 353-358. 77 Re Porco, novellina popolare mar- 
chigiana, collected by Miss R. H. Busk, vol. II. pp. 403-409. Tre 
novellini ptigliesi di Cerignola, collected by N. Zingarelli, vol. III. 
pp. 65-72. La Bona Fia, fiaba veneziana, collected by A. Dalme- 
dico, vol. III. pp. 73-74. Tradizioni popolari abruzzesi, Novelle, 
collected by G. Finamore, vol. III. pp. 359-372, 331-350. I Tre 
Maghi ovverosia II Merlo Bianco, novella popolare montalese, 
collected by G. Nerucci, vol. III. pp. 373-388, 551-568. 

Bartoli, A., e G. Sansoni. 

Una novellina e una poesia popolare gragnolesi. Florence, 
1881. 8°. Pp. 15. Per le Nozze Biagi-Piroli. Edizione di 
100 copie numerate. 

The novellina is a version of Pitre, Nos. 159, 160 (" The Treas- 
ure of Rhampsinitus "). 

Basile, Giambattista. 

Lo Cunto de li Cunti. Overo Lo Trattenemiento de Pec- 



XX BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

cerille. De Gian Alesio Abbattutis. Iornate Cinco. Naples, 
Per Camillo Cavallo. .1644. 12 . 

II conto de' conti trattenimento a' fanciulli. Trasportato 
dalla Napolitana all' Italiana favella, ed adornato di bellissime 
Figure. Naples, 1784. 

La Chiaqlira dla Banzola o per dir mii Fol divers tradutt dal 
parlar Napulitan in lengua Bulgnesa per rimedi innucent dla 
sonn, e dla malincunj. Dedica al merit singular dl gentilessem 
sgnori d' Bulogna. Bologna, 1813. 4 . 

Der Pentamerone oder : Das Marchen aller Marchen von 
Giambattista Basile. Aus dem Neapolitanischen iibertragen 
von Felix Liebrecht. Nebst einer Vorrede von Jacob Grimm. 
2 vols. Breslau, 1846. 8°. 

The Pentamerone, or the Story of Stories, Fun for the Little 
Ones. By Giambattista Basile. Translated from the Neapoli- 
tan by John Edward Taylor. With Illustrations by George 
Cruikshank. Second edition. London, 1850. 8°. 

Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Litera- 
turen. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Herrig. Vol. XLV. p. 1. 
. Eine neapolitanische Marchen-sammlung aus der ersten Halfte 
des XVII. Jahrhunderts — Pentamerone des Giambattista Ba- 
sile. 
Basile, Giambattista. Archivio di Letteratura popolare. Na- 
ples, 1883-85. 

A monthly periodical devoted to popular literature. The vol- 
umes which have already appeared contain a large number of pop- 
ular tales collected at Naples or in the vicinity. 

Bernoni, Dom. Giuseppe. 

Fiabe popolari veneziane raccolte da Dom. Giuseppe Ber- 
noni. Venice, 1875. 8°. 

Leggende fantastiche popolari veneziane raccolte da Dom. 
Giuseppe Bernoni. Venice, 1873. 8°. 

Le Strighe : Leggende popolari veneziane raccolte da Dom. 
Giuseppe Bernoni. Venice, 1874. 16 . 

Tradizioni popolari veneziane raccolte da Dom. Giuseppe 
Bernoni. Puntate I.-IV. Venice, 1875-77. 
Bolognini, Dr. Nepomuceno. 

Fiabe e Legende della Valle di Rendena nel Trentino. Ro- 
vereto, 1881. 8°. Pp. 50. [Estratto dal VII. Annuario della 
Societa degli Alpinisti Tridentini.] 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. xxi 

Busk, R. H. 

Household Stories from the Land of Hofer ; or, Popular 
Myths of Tirol, including the Rose-Garden of King Lareyn. 
London, 1871. 8°. 

The Folk-Lore of Rome. Collected by word of mouth from 
the people. By R. H. Busk. London, 1874. 8°. 
Canti e Racconti del Popolo Italiano. 

See Comparetti and Visentini. 
COMPARETTI, DOMENICO. 

Novelline popolari italiane pubblicate ed illustrate da Do- 
menico Comparetti. Vol. I. Turin, 1875. 8°. 

In Canti e Racconti del Popolo italiano. Pubblicati per cura di 
D. Comparetti ed A. D'Ancona. Vol. VI. 

Coote, Henry Charles. 

Some Italian Folk-Lore, Folk-Lore Record, I., pp. 187-215. 
Notice of Comparetti's Nov. pop. ital., with translations. 
Corazzini, Francesco. 

I Componimenti minori della letteratura popolare italiana 
nei principali dialetti o saggio di letteratura dialettale com- 
parata. Benevento, 1877. 8°. 

Novelle toscane, beneventane, apicese (Benvento), bolognese, 
bergamasca e vicentina. Pp. 409-489. 
Coronedi-Berti, Carolina. 

Novelle popolari bolognesi raccolte da Carolina Coronedi- 
Berti. Bologna, 1874. 8°. 

La Fola del Muretein, Novellina popolare Bolognese. Es- 
tratto dalla Rivista Europea. Florence, 1873. 8°. Pp. 9. 
Crane, T. F. 

A Nursery Tale. The Cornell Review, May, 1876, pp. 337- 

347- 

Italian Fairy Tales. St. Nicholas, December, 1878, pp. 101- 

107. 

Italian Popular Tales. North American Review, July, 1876, 
pp. 25-60. 

Le Novelle Popolari Italiane. In Giornale di Sicilia. Pa- 
lermo. Nos. 186-188; 190, 195, 206, 207, 216, 225, 236, 239, 
240. Aug.-Oct., 1877. 

Italian translation of above Article. 

Recent Italian Popular Tales. The Academy, London, 
March 22, 1879, pp. 262-263. 



XX11 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Sicilian Folk-Lore. Lippincott's Magazine, October, 1876, 

PP- 433-443- 

Devoted to Pitre's collection. 

La Novellistica Popolare di Sicilia per T. F. Crane. Ver- 
sione dall' Inglese per F. Polacci Nuccio. Estratto dalle 
Nuove Effemeridi Siciliane, Vol. VI. Palermo, 1877. 8°. 
Pp. 26. 

Italian translation of above Article. 

De Gubernatis, A. 

Le Novelline di Santo Stefano raccolte da Angelo De Gu- 
bernatis e precedute da una introduzione sulla parentela del 
mito con la novella. Turin, 1869. 8°. 
See Rivista di Letteratura Popolare. 

Zoological Mythology, or the Legends of Animals. By An- 
gelo De Gubernatis. 2 vols. London, 1872. 8°. 
De Nino, Antonio. 

Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi. Vol. III. Fiabe. Florence, 1883. 
16 . 

FlNAMORE, GENNARO. 

Tradizioni popolari abruzzesi. Vol. I. Novelle. Prima Parte, 
Lanciano, 1882. 8°. Parte seconda, Lanciano, 1885. 
Frizzi, Giuseppe. 

Novella montanina, Florence, 1876. 8°. Pp. 36. Edizione 
di 150 esemplari. 
Gargiolli, Carlo. 

Novelline e Canti popolari delle Marche. Fano, 1878. 8°. 
Pp. 18. 

Per le Nozze Imbriani-Rosnati. 
Gianandrea, Antonio. 

Biblioteca delle Tradizioni popolari marchigiane. Novelline 
e Fiabe popolari marchigiane raccolte e annotate da Antonio 
Gianandrea. Jesi, 1878. 12 . Punt. I. pp. 32. 
See Academy, March 22, 1879, p. 262. 
Delia novella del Petit Poucet. In Giornale di Filologia 
Romanza, II., pp. 231-234. 

A few copies were printed separately. 
Gonzenbach, Laura. 

Sicilianische Marchen. Aus dem Volksmund gesammelt 
von Laura Gonzenbach. Mit Anmerkungen Reinhold Kohler's 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. Xxiii 

und einer Einleitung herausgegeben von Otto Hartwig. 2 vols. 
Leipzig, 1870. 8°. 
Gradi, Temistocle. 

Saggio di Letture varie per i Giovani di Temistocle Gradi 
da Siena. Turin, 1865. 8°. 

La Vigilia di Pasqua di Ceppo. Otto Novelle di Temistocle 
Gradi. Coll' aggiunta di due racconti. Turin, i860. 8°. 
Guarnerio, P. E. 

Una novellina nel dialetto di Luras in Gallura (Sardinia). 
Milan, 1884. Per le Nozze Vivante-Ascoli. Edizione di soli 
L. esemplari. 

An incomplete version of the Cupid and Psyche myth. 

Imbrtani, Vittorio. 

La Novellaja fiorentina cioe fiabe e novelline stenografate in 
Firenze dal dettato popolare e corredate di qualcbe noterella 
da Vittorio Imbriani. Naples, 187 1. Esemplari 150. 16 . 

La Novellaja milanese, esempii e panzane lombarde raccolte 
nel Milanese da Vittorio Imbriani. Bologna, 1872. Esem- 
plari 40. 8°. 

Paralipomeni alia Novellaja Milanese. Bologna, pp. 9. 
Tratura a parte del Propugnatore, Vol. VI. Esemplari 30. 

'A 'Ndriana Fata. Cunto pomiglianese. Per nozze. Po- 
migliano d' Arco, 1875. 8°. Pp. 14. 250 esemplari fuori di 
commercio. 

Due Fiabe Toscane annotate da V. I. Esemplari 100. Na- 
ples, 1876. 8°. Pp. 23. 

These fiabe are also in Nerucci, pp. 10, 18. 

Dodici conti pomiglianesi con varianti avellinesi, montellesi, 
bagnolesi, milanesi, toscane, leccesi, ecc. Illustrati da Vittorio 
Imbriani. Naples, 1877. 8°. 

'E Sette Mane-Mozze. In dialetto di Avellino. Principato 
Ulteriore. Pomigliano d' Arco, 1877. 8°. Per le nozze Pitre- 
Vitrano. Esemplari cc. Fuori commercio. 

La Novellaja Fiorentina. Fiabe e Novelline stenografate in 
Firenze dal dettato popolare da Vittorio Imbriani. Ristampa 
accresciuta di molte novelle inedite, di numerosi riscontri e di 
note, nelle quali e accolta integralmente La Novellaja Milanese 
dello stesso raccoglitore. Leghorn, 1877. 8°. 
Ive, Antonio. 

Fiabe popolari rovignesi. Per le Nozze Ive-Lorenzetto. 



XXIV BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

XXVIII. Novembre, 1877. Vienna, 1S77, 8°. Pp. 32. Edi- 
zione fuori di commercio di soli 100 esemplari. 
See Academy, March 22, 1879, P- 2 ^ 2 - 
Fiabe popolari rovignesi raccolte ed annotate da Antonio 
Ive. Per le Nozze Ive-Rocco. Vienna, 1878. 8°. Pp. 26. 
Edizione fuori di commercio di soli 100 esemplari. 
See Academy, March 22, 1879, p. 262. 
Kaden, Woldemar. 

Unter den Olivenbaumen. Siiditalienische Volksmarchen. 
Nacherzahlt, Leipzig, 1880. 8°. 

Of the forty-four stories in this work thirty-four are translated 
from Pitre's Fiabe, six from Comparetti's Nov. pop. ital., and 
three from Imbriani's XII. Conti pomig., without any acknowledg- 
ment. This plagiarism was first exposed by R. Kohler in the Lit- 
erarisches Centralblatt, 1881, vol. XXXII. p. 337, and afterwards 
by Pitre in the Nuove Effemeridi siciliane, 1881. 
Knust, Hermann. 

Italienische Marchen. (Leghorn.) In Jahrbuch fur roma- 
nische und englische Literatur. Leipzig, 1866. Vol. VII. Pp. 
381-401. 

KOEHLER, REINHOLD. 

Italienische Volksmarchen. (Sora). In Jahrbuch fur ro- 
manische und englische Literatur. Leipzig, 1867. Vol. VIII. 
Pp. 241-260. 
Marc-Monnier. 

Les Contes de Nourrice de la Sicile, d'apres des recueils 
nouveaux publies recemment in Italic Revue des Deux 
Mondes, 15 Aug., 1875. 

Devoted to Pitre's collection. 

Les Contes de Pomigliano et la filiation des Mythes popu- 
lates. Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 Nov., 1877. 

Contes populaires de l'ltalie. Les Contes de Toscane et 
de Lombardie. Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 Dec, 1879. 

Devoted to the Novellaja Fiorentina of Imbriani. 

Les Contes populaires en Italic Paris, 1880. 16 . 
Reprint of the above articles. 
Morosi, Prof. Dott. Giuseppe. 

Studi sui Dialetti Greci della Terra d' Otranto. Preceduto 
da una raccolta di Canti, Leggende, Proverbi, e Indovinelli. 
Lecce, 1870. 4 . Leggende, pp. 73-77. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. XXV 

Nerucci, Prof. Gherardo. 

Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi (Circondario di Pistoja). 
Florence, 1880. 12 . 

Cincelle da Bambini in nella stietta parlatura rustica d' i' 
Montale Pistolese. Pistoia, 1881. 8°. 
Ortoli, J. B. Frederic. 

Les Contes populaires de File de la Corse. Paris, 1883. 8°. 
Vol. XVI. of Literatures populaires de toutes les Nations, 
Paris, Maisonneuve. 
Panzanega d' on re. In dialetto di Crenna [Provincia di Mi- 
lano]. Rome, 1876. 8°. Pp. 15. 200 esemplari fuori di com- 
mercio. 
Papanti, Giovanni. 

Novelline popolari livornesi raccolte e annotate da Giovanni 
Papanti. Leghorn, 1877. 8°. Pp. 29. 

Per le nozze Pitre- Vitrano. Edizione fuori di commercio di soli 
150 esemplari. 

Pellizzari, P. 

Fiabe e Canzoni popolari del Contado di Maglie in Terra 
d' Otranto. Fasc. I. Maglie, 1884. 8°. Pp. 143. 
Pitre, Giuseppe. 

Saggio (Primo) di Fiabe e Novelle popolari Siciliane raccolte 
da Giuseppe Pitre. Palermo, 1873. 8°. Pp. 16. 

Nuovo Saggio (Secundo) di Fiabe e Novelle popolari Sici- 
liane raccolte ed illustrate da Giuseppe Pitre. Estratto dalla 
Rivista di Filologia Romanza, vol. I., fasc. II. e III. Imola, 
1873. 8°. Pp.34. 

Otto Fiabe (Terzo Saggio) e Novelle Siciliane raccolte dalla 
bocca del Popolo ed annotate da Giuseppe Pitre. Bologna, 
1873. Estratto dal Propugnatore, Vol. VI. 8°. Pp. 42. 

Novelline popolari siciliane raccolte in Palermo ed annotate 
da Giuseppe Pitre. Palermo, 1873. 8°. 
Edizione di soli 100 esemplari. 
Fiabe, Novelle e Racconti. 4 vols. Palermo, 1875. 8°.* 

Biblioteca delle tradizioni popolari siciliane per cura di Giu- 
seppe Pitre. Vols. IV.-VII. 

La Scatola di Cristallo. Novellina popolare senese raccolta 
da Giuseppe Pitre. Palermo, 1875. 8°. 
Per le Nozze Montuoro-Di Giovanni. 

* When Pitre is mentioned without any other qualification than that of a 
numeral, this work is understood. 



XXVI BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Cinque novelline popolari siciliane ora per la prima volta 
pubblicate da G. Pitre, Palermo, 1878. 8°. 

Per le Nozze Salomone Marino-Abate. Ediz. di 50 esemplari. 

See Academy, March 22, 1879, P- 2 ^ 2 - 

Novelline popolari toscane ora per la prima volta pubblicate 
da G. Pitre. II Medico grille Vocaboli. La Gamba. Ser- 
pentino. Palermo, 1878. 8°. Pp. 16. 

Per le Nozze Imbriani-Rosnati. Tirato a soli 25 esemplari. 

Una variante toscana della novella del Petit Poucet. 8°. 
Pp. 6. 

Estratto dalla Rivista di Lett. Pop. Vol. I. pp. 161-166. 

La Tinchina dell' alto Mare. Fiaba toscana raccolta ed 
illustrata da Giuseppe Pitre, Quattrasteriscopoli, 1882. 8°. 
Pp. 14. 

Per le Nozze Papanti-Giraudini. Esemplari novanta. 

II Zoccolo di Legno, Novella popolare fiorentina. In Gior- 
nale Napoletano della Domenica, 2 July, 1882. [= Pitre, 
Fiabe, No. XIII.] 

I tre pareri. Novella popolare toscana di Pratovecchio nel 
Cosentino. In Giornale Napoletano della Domenica, 20 Au- 
gust, 1882. [= Pitre, Fiabe, No. CXCVIL] 

Novelle popolari toscane. Florence, 1885. 16 . 
Collected by Giovanni Siciliano. A few of the stories in this 

collection have already been published in the Archivio per lo 

Studio delle Tradizioni popolari. 

Prato, Stanislao. 

La Leggenda Indiana di Nala in una Novellina popolare 
Pitiglianese. 8°. Pp. 8. Extract from I Nuovi Goliardi. 

La Leggenda del Tesoro di Rampsinite nelle varie redazioni 
Italiane e Straniere. Como, 1882. 8°. Pp. xii., 51. Edizione 
di soli 100 esemplari numerati. 

Una Novellina popolare monferrina. Como, 1882. 8°. Pp. 
67. Edizione di soli 80 esemplari. 

Quattro Novelline popolare livornesi accompagnate da vari- 
anti umbre raccolte, pubblicate ed illustrate con note compara- 
tive. Spoleto, 1880. Gr. 8°. Pp. 168. 

L' Uomo nella Luna. Fol. pp. 4. Estratto dalla rivista di 
Ancona : II Preludio, del 30 gennaio, 188 1. 

L' Orma del Leone, un racconto orientale nella tradizione 
popolare. Romania XII., pp. 535-565. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. XXvii 

Ralston, W. R. S. 

Sicilian Fairy Tales. Fraser's Magazine, New Series, vol. 
XIII. 1876, pp. 423-433.. 
Rivista di Letteratura Popolare diretta da G. Pitre, F. 
Sabatini. Rome, 1877. 

Vol. I., pp. 81-86, contains Novelline di Sto. Stefano di Calci- 
naia in continuation of Le Novelline di Santo Stefano, see De 
Gubernatis ; p. 161, G. Pitre, Una variante toscana della novella 
del Petit Poucet ; p. 213, R. Kohler Das RatJiseh7iarchen von dem 
ermordeten Geliebten ; p. 266, G. Pitre, La Lucerna, nov. pop. 
tosc.j p. 288, F. Sabatini, La Lanterna, nov. pop. bergamasca. 
Romane, quattro novelline popolari. Nel giornale II Man- 

zoni (Spoleto), No. 1, 1 Marzo, 1880. 
Sabatini, Francesco. 

La Lanterna. Novella popolare siciliana pubblicata ed illus- 
trata a cura di Francesco Sabatini. Imola, 1878. 8°. Pp. 19. 
Per le nozzi Salomone-Marino-Abate. Edizione di soli 180 
esemplari. See Academy, March 22, 1879, P- 2 ^> 2 - 
Sarnelli, Pompeo, Bishop of Bisceglie. 

La Posillecheata de Masillo Reppone di Gnanopole. Na- 
ples, 1789. In Collezione di tutti li poeti in lingua Napole- 
tana. 28 vols. 12 . Naples, 1789. 

SCALAGERI DELLA FRATTA, CaMILLO. 

Sette novellette, non piu ristampate da oltre due secoli, ri- 
pubblicate da V. Imbriani. Pomigliano d' Arco, 1875. 8°. Pp. 
15. Soli 150 esemplari. 

SCHNELLER, CHRISTIAN. 

Marchen und Sagen aus Walschtirol. Ein Beitrag zur deut- 
schen Sagenkunde. Gesammelt von Christian Schneller. Inns- 
bruck, 1867. 8°. 

SOMMA, MlCHELE. 

Cento Racconti per divertire gli amici nelle ore oziose e 
nuovi brindisi per spasso nelle tavole e nelle conversazioni. 
Messina, 1883. 16 . 

The book really contains one hundred and thirty-one stories, 

and deserves mention here solely for its relation to the class of 

stories discussed in Chapter VI. 
Straparola, Giovan Francesco. 

Piacevoli Notti di M. Giovan Francesco Straparola da Cara- 
vagio, Nelle quali si contengono le Favole con i loro Enimmi 
da dieci donne, et da duo giovani raccontate. 2 vols. Venice, 
Per Comin da Trino di Monferrato, 1562. 8°. 



XXV111 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Le Tredici Piacevolissime Notte di M. Gio : Francesco Stra- 
parola da Caravaggia. Divise in due libri . . . con licenza de' 
superiori. Venice, 1604. Appresso Zanetto Zanetti. 8°. 
Con figure. 

Les Facetieuses Nuits de Straparole. Traduites par Jean 
Louveau et Pierre de Larivey. 2 vols. Paris, 1857. 8°. 
Bibliotheque elzeverienne. 

Die Marchen des Straparola. Aus dem Italienischen, mit 
Anmerkungen von Dr. F. W. V. Schmidt. Berlin, 18 17. 8°. 
In Marchen-Saal. Sammlung alter Marchen mit Anmerkun- 
gen ; herausgegeben von Dr. F. W. V. Schmidt. Erster Band. 
Giovan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio. Inaugural- 
Dissertation zur Erlangung der philosophischen Doctorwiirde 
in Gottingen von F. W. J. Brakelmann. Gottingen, 1867. 8°. 
Teza, E. 

La Tradizione dei Sette Savi nelle novelline magiare di E. 
Teza. Bologna, 1874. Pp. 56. Contains : Mila e Bucria, 
novellina veneziana, p. 26 ; La Novellina del Pafagallo, novellina 
toscana, p. 52. 
Tuscan Fairy Tales (Taken down from the Mouths of the 
People). With sixteen illustrations by J. Stanley, engraved by 
Edmund Evans. London, 1880. 16 . 
Venetian Popular Legends. 

The Cornhill Magazine, July, 1875, pp. 80-90. 
Devoted to Bernoni's collections. 

VlSENTINI, ISAIA. 

Fiabe Mantovane raccolte da Isaia Visentini. Turin, 1879. 
In Canti e Racconti del Popolo italiano. Vol. VII. 
Widter-Wolf. 

Volksmarchen aus Venetian. Gesammelt und herausgegeben 
von Georg Widter und Adam Wolf. Mit Nachweisen und 
Vergleichungen verwandter Marchen von Reinhold Kohler. 
In Jahrbuch fur romanische und englische Literatur. Leipzig, 
1866. VII. vol., pp. 1-36; 121-154; 249-290. 



LIST OF STORIES. 



Those marked with an * are translated from the dialect ; those in italics are found in the 

notes. 

PAGE 

I. * The King of Love. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 18, Lu Re 

d 1 Amtiri) I 

II. Zelinda and the Monster. (Tuscan, Nerucci, No. i, 

Zelinda e il Mostro) 7 

III. * King Bean. (Venetian, Bernoni, Fiabe, No. 17, El 

Re de Favd) 12 

IV. * The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and 

the Speaking Bird. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 36, Li 
Figghi di lu Cavuliciddaru) . . . . . 17 

V. The Fair Angiola. (Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. 53, 

Von der schbnen A ngiola) ...... 26 

VI. The Cloud. (Tuscan, Comparetti, No. 32, La JVuvo- 

laccid) 30 

VII. * The Cistern. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 80, La Jisternd) 36 
VIII. * The Griffin. (Neapolitan, Imbriani, P omiglianesi, 

p. 195, L' Auciello Crifone) ...... 40 

IX. Cinderella. (Tuscan, Novellaja fiorentina, p. 151, 

La Cenerentold) ........ 42 

X. * Fair Maria Wood. (Vincenza, Corazzini, p. 484, 

La Bela Maria del Legnd) 48 

XI. * The Curse of the Seven Children. (Bolognese, 

Coronedi-Berti, No. 19, La Maledizion di Set Fiti) . 54 

XII. Oraggio and Bianchinetta. (Tuscan, Novellaja 

fiorentina, p. 314, Oraggio e Bianchinetta) ... 58 

XIII. The Fair Fiorita. (Basilicata, Comparetti, No. 20, 

La Bella Fiorita) 61 

XIV. * Bierde. (Istrian, Ive, 1877, p. 13, Bierde) ... 68 
XV. * Snow- white-fire-red. (Sicilian, Pitr&, No. 13, 2?z- 

anca-comu-nivi-rtissa-co7nu-focu) ..... 7 2 
XVI. How the Devil married Three Sisters. (Vene- 
tian, Widter-Wolf, No. 11, Der Tetifel heirathet drei 
Schwestern) . 78 



XXX LIST OF STORIES. 

XVII. In Love with a Statue. (Piedmontese, Com- 

paretti, No. 29, U Innamorato d" 1 una Statud) . 85 
XVII I. * Thirteenth. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 33, Tridi- 

cinu) ......... 90 

XIX. * The Cobbler. (Milanese, Novellaja ftorentina, 

p. 575, El Sciavattin) 94 

^ XX. Sir Fiorante, Magician. (Tuscan, De Gubernatis, 

Sto. Stefano, No. 14, Sor Fiorante mago) . . 322 
XXI. The Crystal Casket. (Tuscan, La Scatola di Cris- 

tallo raccolta da G. Pitre) 326 

XXII. * The Stepmother. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 283, La 

Parrastrd) 331 

XXIII. * Water and Salt. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 10, L' Ac- 

qua e lu Sali) ....... 333 

XXIV. * The Love of the Three Oranges. (Istrian, Ive, 

1878, p. 3, D Amur dei tri Naranci) . . . 338 
XXV. The King who wanted a Beautiful Wife. 
(Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. "j% Von dem Kbnige, 

der eine sch'dne Frau wollte) 97 

XXVI. * The Bucket. (Milanese, Novellaja fiorentina, 

p. 190, E l Sidellin) 100 

XXVII. The Two Humpbacks. (Tuscan, Novellaja fio- 

rentina, p. 559, I due Gobbi) 103 

XXVIII. The Story of Catherine and her Fate. (Si- 
cilian, Gonzenbach, No. 21, Die Geschichte von 
Caterina tend ihrem SchicksaT) .... 105 
XXIX. * The Crumb in the Beard. (Bolognese, Coro- 

nedi-Berti, No. 15, La Fola d' Brisla in Barbd) . 110 
XXX. * The Fairy Orlanda. (Neapolitan, Novellaja 

fiorentina, p. 333, *A Fata Orlannd) . . ♦. 114 
XXXI. The Shepherd who made the King's Daugh- 
ter laugh. (Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. 31, Von 
dem Schdfer der die Konigstochter zum Lachen 
brachte) 119 

XXXII. The Ass that lays Money. (Tuscan, Nerucci, 

No. 43, 77 Ciuchino caca-zecchini) . . . .123 

XXXIII. * Don Joseph Pear. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 88, 

Don Giuseppi Pirti) . . . . . .127 

^ XXXIV. Puss in Boots. (Straparola, XI. 1.) 348 

XXXV. * Fair Brow. (Istrian, Ive, 1877, p. 19, Biela 

Fronle) 131 

XXXVI. Lionbruno. (Basilicata, Comparetti, No. 4.1, Lion- 

brund) ........ i 136 

XXXVII. * The Peasant and the Master. (Sicilian, 

Pitre, No. 194, Lu Burgisi e lu Patruni) . . 150 



LIST OF STORIES. XXxi 

XXXVIII. The Ingrates. (Piedmontese, Comparetti, No. 

67, Gli Ingrati) 150 

XXXIX. * The Treasure. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 138, La 

Truvattira) . . . . . . . . .156 

XL. * The Shepherd. (Milanese, Novellaja fioren- 

tina, p. 572, El Pegoree) 156 

XLI. * The Three Admonitions. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. 197, Li tri Rigordi) 157 

XLII. * Vineyard I was and Vineyard I am. (Ve- 
netian, Bernoni, Trad. pop. venez., Punt. I. p. 11, 
Vigna era e Vigna son) . . . . 159 

XLIII. The Language of Animals. (Piedmontese, 

Comparetti, No. 56, II Linguaggio degli Animali) 161 
XLIV. * The Mason and his Son. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. 160, Lu Muraturi e so Figghiu) . . . 163 
XLV. The Parrot. First Version. (Tuscan, Com- 
paretti, No. \, II Pappagallo) . . . .168 
XLVI. The Parrot. Second Version. (Tuscan, Teza, 
La Tradizione dei Sette Savi, etc., p. 52, La No- 

vellina del Papagalld) 169 

XLVII. * The Parrot which tells Three Stories. 
Third Version. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 2, Lu Pap- 

pagaddu chi cunta tri cunti) 173 

First Story of the Parrot . . . 175 

Second Story of the Parrot . . . .178 

Third Story of the Parrot 180 

XLVIII. * Truthful Joseph. (Neapolitan, Pomiglianesi, 

p. 1, Giuseppe 'A Veretti) 184 

XLIX. The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox. (Otranto, 

Morosi, p. 75) ■ 354 

L. * The Lord, St. Peter, and the Apostles. 
(Sicilian, Pitre, No. 123, Lu Signuri, S. Petru e 

li Apostuli) 1 86 

LI. The Lord, St. Peter, and the Blacksmith. 
(Venetian, Widter-Wolf, No. 5, Der Herrgott, St. 

Peter und der Schmied) 188 

LII. * In this World one weeps and another 
laughs. (Sicilian, Pitre, Cinque nov. pop. sicil., 
p. J, A stti munnu cu 1 chianci e cu* ridi) . . 190 
LIII. * The Ass. (Sicilian, Pitre, Cinque nov. pop. si- 
cil., p. 8, Lu Sceccii) 190 

LIV. St. Peter and his Sisters. (Tyrolese, Schnel- 

ler, p. 6, St. Petrus u?id seine Schwestern) . . 193 
LV. * Pilate. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 119, Pilatti) . 194 

LVL * The Story of Judas. (Sicilian, Pitre, vol. I. 

p. cxxxviii., Lu Cunlu di Giudd) . . . . 195 



XXX11 LIST OF STORIES. 

LVII. * Desperate Malchus. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 120, 

Marcn dispiratu) 196 

LVIII. * Malchus at the Column. (Venetian, Ber- 
noni, Preghiere pop. veneziane, p. 18, Malco a la 
Colond) ......... 197 

LIX. * The Story of Buttadeu. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

vol. I. p. cxxxiii., La Storia di Buttadeii) . . 197 
LX. The Story of Crivoliu. (Sicilian, Gonzenbach, 

No. 85, Vom Crivbliu) 198 

LXI. The Story of St. James of Galicia. (Sicil- 
ian, Gonzenbach, No. 90, Die Geschichte von San 
Japicu alia Lizid) ....... 202 

LXII. * The Baker's Apprentice. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. in, Lu Giuvini di lu Furnaru) . . . 212 
LXIII. * Occasion. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 124, Accaciuni) . 215 
LXIV. * Brother Giovannone. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 

125, Fra Giugannuni) 217 

LXV. Godfather Misery. (Tuscan, De Gubernatis, 

Sto. Stefano, No. 32, Compar Miser id) . . 221 

LXVI. Beppo Pipetta, (Venetian, Widter-Wolf, No. 7, 

Beppo Pipetta) 222 

LXVI I. * The Just Man. (Venetian, Bernoni, Trad. pop. 

venez., Punt. I. p. 6, El Giustd) .... 226 
LXVIII. * Of a Godfather and a Godmother of St. 
John who made love. (Venetian, Bernoni, 
Leggende, p. 3, De una comare e tin cojnpare de 
San Zuane che i conversava in fra de lori) . 228 

LXIX. * The Groomsman. (Venetian, Bernoni, Leggende, 
p. 7, De un compare de V anelo ch' el gd struca la 
man a la sposa co cativa intenzion) . . .231 
LXX. * The Parish Priest of San Marcuola. (Ve- 
netian, Bernoni, Leggende, p. 17, De un piovan de 
San Marcuola, che gd dito che i morti in dove che 

i xe i restd) 234 

LXXI. * The Gentleman who kicked a Skull. (Ve- 
netian, Bernoni, Leggende, p. 19, De un signor che 
gd da 'na peada a tin cragno da mortd) . . 236 

LXXII. * The Gossips of St. John. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 

no, Li Cumpari di S. Giuvanni) . . . . 369 
LXXIII. * Saddaedda. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 128, Sadda- 

eddd) 238 

LXXIV. * Mr. Attentive. (Venetian, Bernoni, Punt. II. 

p. 53, Sior Intento) 240 

I LXXV. * The Story of the Barber. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. 141, Lu Cuntu di lu Varveri) . . . 241 



LIST OF STORIES. XXxiii 

LXXVI. * Don Firriulieddu. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 130, 

Don Firriulieddu) . . . . . . .241 

LXXVI I. Little Chick-Pea. (Tuscan, Rivista di Lett. 

pop. I. p. 161, Cecind) ....... 242 

LXXVIII. * Pitidda. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 131, Pitiddd) . 248 
LXXIX. * The Sexton's Nose. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 135, 

Lu Nasu di lu Sagristanu) 250 

LXXX. * The Cock and the Mouse. (Principato Ul- 
teriore, Imbriani, P omiglianesi, p. 239, '0 Gallo 

e '<? Sorece) 252 

LXXXI. * Godmother Fox. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 132, • 

Cummari Vurpidda) 254 

LXXXI I. * The Cat and the Mouse. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. 134, La Gatta e lu Surci) .... 257 
LXXXI 1 1. *A Feast Day. (Venetian, Bernoni, Fiabe, 

No. 4, 'JVa Giornada de Sagrd) .... 261 
LXXXIV. * The Three Brothers. (Venetian, Bernoni, 

Trad. pop. venez., Punt. I. p. 18, I tre Fradei) . 263 
LXXXV. Buchettino. (Tuscan, Papanti, Novelline pop. 

livornesi, p. 25, Buchettino) 265 

LXXXVI. * The Three Goslings. (Venetian, Bernoni, 

Trad. pop. venez., Punt. III. p. 65, Le Tre Ochete) 267 
LXXXVI I. * The Cock. (Venetian, Bernoni, Trad. pop. 

venez., Punt. III. p. 69, El Galo) .... 270 
LXXXVIII. The Cock that wished to become Pope. 
(Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. 66, Von dem Hahne, 

der Pabst werden wollte) 272 

LXXXIX. The Goat and the Fox. (Otranto, Morosi, p. 

73) 375 

XC The Ant and the Mouse. (Otranto, Morosi, p. 

73) 376 

XCI. * The Cook. (Milan, Novellaja fiorentina, p. 

621, El Coeugh) 275 

XCI I. * The Thoughtless Abbot. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. 97, U Abbati senza Pinseri) .... 276 
XCI 1 1. * Bastianelo. (Venetian, Bernoni, Fiabe, No. 

6, Bastianelo) 279 

XCIV. * Christmas. (Neapolitan, Imbriani, Pomigli- 

anesi, p. 226, Natale) 283 

XCV. * The Wager. (Venetian, Bernoni, Fiabe, No. 

13, La Scornessa) ....... 284 

XCVI. * Scissors They Were. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 

257, Fbrfici ford) . 285 

XCVII. * The Doctor's Apprentice. (Sicilian, Pitre, 

No. 180, D Apprinnista di lu Medicu) . . 287 



XXXIV LIST OF STORIES. 

XCVIII. * Firrazzanu's Wife and the Queen. (Sicil- 
ian, Pitre, No. 156, La Mugghieri di Firrazzanu e 

la Riggind) 288 

XCIX. * Giufa and the Plaster Statue. (Sicilian, 

Pitre, No. 190, 1, Giufa e la statua di ghissu) . 291 
C. * Giufa and the Judge. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 190, 

3, Giufa e lu Judici) . . . . . . 293 

CI. The Little Omelet. (Tuscan, Novellaja fioren- 

tina, p. 545, La Frittatind) 294 

CI I. * Eat, my Clothes ! (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 190, 9, 

Manciati, rubbiceddi mei /) 296 

CIII. Giufa's Exploits. (Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. 37, 

Giufa) . . 297 

CIV. *The Fool. (Venetian, Bernoni, Fiabe, No. 11, 

El Matd) 302 

CV. * Uncle Capriano. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 157, Lu 

Zu Crapianu) ....... 303 

CVI. * Peter Fullone and the Egg. (Sicilian, Pitre, No. 

200, Petru Fudduni e V ovu) . . . .381 

CVI I. The Clever Peasant. (Sicilian, Gonzenbach, No. 

50, Vom Klugen Bauer) 309 

s CVI 1 1. The Clever Girl. (Tuscan, Comparetti, No. 43, 

La Ragazza astutd) 311 

CIX. Crab. (Mantuan, Visentini, No. 41, GAmbard) . 314 



ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 



CHAPTER I. 

FAIRY TALES. 



The most wide-spread and interesting class of Fairy Tales 
is the one in which a wife endeavors to behold the face of 
her husband, who comes to her only at night. She suc- 
ceeds, but her husband disappears, and she is not reunited 
to him until she has expiated her indiscretion by weary 
journeys and the performance of difficult tasks. This class, 
which is evidently the popular form of the classic myth of 
Cupid and Psyche, may for convenience be divided into 
four classes. The first turns on the punishment of the 
wife's curiosity ; the second, on the husband's (Melusina) ; 
in the third the heroine is married to a monster, is sepa- 
rated from him by her disobedience, but finally is the means 
of his recovering his human form ; the fourth class is a va- 
riant of the first and third, the husband being an animal in 
form, and parted from his wife by the curiosity or disobedi- 
ence of the latter or of her envious sisters. 

To illustrate the first class, we select, from the large num- 
ber of stories before us, a Sicilian tale (Pitre, No. 18) en- 
titled : 

I. THE KING OF LOVE. 

Once upon a time there was a man with three daughters, 
who earned his living by gathering wild herbs. One day 
he took his youngest daughter with him. They came to a 
garden, and began to gather vegetables. The daughter saw 
a fine radish, and began to pull it up, when suddenly a Turk 



2 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

appeared, and said : " Why have you opened my master's 
door ? You must come in now, and he will decide on your 
punishment." 

They went down into the ground, more dead than alive ; 
and when they were seated they saw a green bird come in 
and bathe in a pan of milk, then dry itself, and become a 
handsome youth. He said to the Turk : "What do these 
persons want ? " " Your worship, they pulled up a radish, 
and opened the door of the cave." " How did we know," 
said the father, "that this was Your Excellency's house? 
My daughter saw a fine radish ; it pleased her, and she 
pulled it up." "Well, if that's the case," said the master, 
"your daughter shall stay here as my wife ; take this sack 
of gold and go ; when you want to see your daughter, come 
and make yourself at home." The father took leave of his 
daughter and went away. 

When the master was alone with her, he said : " You 
see, Rosella (Rusidda), you are now mistress here," and 
gave her all the keys. She was perfectly happy (literally, 
" was happy to the hairs of her head"). One day, while the 
green bird was away, her sisters took it into their heads to 
visit her, and asked her about her husband. Rosella said 
she did not know, for he had made her promise not to try to 
find out who he was. Her sisters, however, persuaded her, 
and when the bird returned and became a man, Rosella 
put on a downcast air. " What is the matter ? " asked her 
husband. "Nothing." "You had better tell me." She 
let him question her a while, and at last said : " Well, 
then, if you want to know why I am out of sorts, it is be- 
cause I wish to know your name." Her husband told her 
that it would be the worse for her, but she insisted on 
knowing his name. So he made her put the gold basins 
on a chair, and began to bathe his feet. " Rosella, do you 
really want to know my name ? " " Yes." And the water 
came up to his waist, for he had become a bird, and had got 
into the basin. Then he asked her the same question 
again, and again she answered yes, and the water was up 
to his mouth. " Rosella, do you really want to know my 



FAIRY TALES. 3 

name ? " " Yes, yes, yes ! " " Then know that I am 
called The King of Love ! " And saying this he dis- 
appeared, and the basins and the palace disappeared like- 
wise, and Rosella found herself alone out in an open plain, 
without a soul to help her. She called her servants, but no 
one answered her. Then she said : " Since my husband 
has disappeared, I must wander about alone and forlorn to 
seek him ! " 

The poor woman, who expected before long to become a 
mother, began her wanderings, and at night arrived at an- 
other lonely plain ; then she felt her heart sink, and, not 
knowing what to do, she cried out : — 

" Ah ! King of Love, 
You did it, and said it. 
You disappeared from me in a golden basin, 
And who will shelter to-night 
This poor unfortunate one ?" 

When she had uttered these words an ogress appeared 
and said : " Ah ! wretch, how dare you go about seeking 
my nephew ? " and was going to eat her up ; but she took 
pity on her miserable state, and gave her shelter for the 
night. The next morning she gave her a piece of bread, 
and said : " We are seven sisters, all ogresses, and the 
worst of all is your mother-in-law ; look out for her ! " 

To be brief, the poor girl wandered about six days, and 
met all six of the ogresses, who treated her in the same 
way. The seventh day, in great distress, she uttered her 
usual lament, and the sister of the King of Love appeared 
and said, " Rosella, while my mother is out, come up ! " 
and she lowered the braids of her hair, and pulled her up. 
Then she gave her something to eat, and told her how to 
seize and pinch her mother until she cried out : " Let me 
alone for the sake of my son, the King of Love ! " 

Rosella did as she was told, but the ogress was so an- 
gry she was going to eat her. But her daughters threat- 
ened to abandon her if she did. " Well, then, I will write 
a letter, and Rosella must carry it to my friend." Poor 
Rosella was disheartened when she saw the letter, and, 



4 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

descending, found herself in the midst of a plain. She 
uttered her usual complaint, when the King of Love ap- 
peared, and said : " You see your curiosity has brought 
you to this point ! " Poor thing ! when she saw him she 
began to cry, and begged his pardon for what she had done. 
He took pity on her, and said : " Now listen to what you 
must do. On your way you will come to a river of blood ; 
you must bend down and take some up in your hands, and 
say : ' How beautiful is this crystal water ! such water as 
this I have never drunk ! ' Then you will come to another 
stream of turbid water, and do the same there. Then you 
will find yourself in a garden where there is a great quan- 
tity of fruit ; pick some and eat it, saying : ' What fine 
pears ! I have never eaten such pears as these.' After- 
ward, you will come to an oven that bakes bread day and 
night, and no one buys any. When you come there, say : 
' Oh, what fine bread ! bread like this I have never eaten,' 
and eat some. Then you will come to an entrance guarded 
by two hungry dogs ; give them a piece of bread to eat. 
Then you will come to a doorway all dirty and full of cob- 
webs ; take a broom and sweep it clean. Half-way up the 
stairs you will find two giants, each with a dirty piece of 
meat by his side ; take a brush and clean it for them. 
When you have entered the house, you will find a razor, a 
pair of scissors, and a knife ; take something and polish 
them. When you have done this, go in and deliver your 
letter to my mother's friend. When she wants to make 
you enter, snatch up a little box on the table, and run away. 
Take care to do all the things I have told you, or else you 
will never escape alive." 

Rosella did as she was told, and while the ogress was 
reading the letter Rosella seized the box and ran for her 
life. When the ogress had finished reading her letter, she 
called : " Rosella ! Rosella ! " When she received no an- 
swer, she perceived that she had been betrayed, and cried 
out : " Razor, Scissors, Knife, cut her in pieces ! " They 
answered : " As long as we have been razor, scissors, a,\d 
knife, when did you ever deign to polish us ? Rosella came 



FAIRY TALES. 5 

and brightened us up." The ogress, enraged, exclaimed : 
"Stairs, swallow her up!" "As long as I have been 
stairs, when did you ever deign to sweep me? Rosella 
came and swept me." The ogress cried in a passion : 
" Giants, crush her ! " " As long as we have been giants, 
when did you ever deign to clean our food for us ? Rosella 
came and did it." 

Then the furious ogress called on the entrance to bury 
her alive, the dogs to devour her, the furnace to burn her, 
the fruit-tree to fall on her, and the rivers to drown her ; 
but they all remembered Rosella' s kindness, and refused to 
injure her. 

Meanwhile Rosella continued her way, and at last be- 
came curious to know what was in the box she was carry- 
ing. So she opened it, and a great quantity of little pup- 
pets came out ; some danced, some sang, and some played 
on musical instruments. She amused herself some time 
with them; but when she was ready to go on, the little 
figures would not return to the box. Night approached, 
and she exclaimed, as she had so often before : — 

" Ah ! King of Love," etc. 

Then her husband appeared and said, " Oh, your curios- 
ity will be the death of you !" and commanded the puppets 
to enter the box again. Then Rosella went her way, and 
arrived safely at her mother-in-law's. When the ogress 
saw her she exclaimed : "You owe this luck to my son, the 
King of Love ! " and was going to devour poor Rosella, but 
her daughters said : "Poor child ! she has brought you the 
box ; why do you want to eat her ? " " Well and good. You 
want to marry my son, the King of Love ; then take these 
six mattresses, and go and fill them with birds' feathers ! " 
Rosella descended, and began to wander about, uttering 
her usual lament. When her husband appeared Rosella 
told him what had happened. He whistled and the King 
of the Birds appeared, and commanded all the birds to 
come and drop their feathers, fill the six beds, and carry 
them back to the ogress, who again said that her son had 
helped Rosella. However, she went and made up her son's 



6 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

bed with the six mattresses, and that very day she made 
him marry the daughter of the King of Portugal. Then 
she called Rosella, and, telling her that her son was mar- 
ried, bade her kneel before the nuptial bed, holding two 
lighted torches. Rosella obeyed, but soon the King of 
Love, under the plea that Rosella was not in a condition to 
hold the torches any longer, persuaded his bride to change 
places with her. Just as the queen took the torches in her 
hands, the earth opened and swallowed her up, and the 
king remained happy with Rosella. 

When the ogress heard what had happened she clasped 
her hands over her head, and declared that Rosella's child 
should not be born until she unclasped her hands. Then 
the King of Love had a catafalque erected, and stretched 
himself on it as though he were dead, and had all the bells 
tolled, and made the people cry, " How did the King of 
Love die ? " The ogress heard it, and asked : " What is 
that noise ? " Her daughters told her that their brother 
was dead from her fault. When the ogress heard this she 
unclasped her hands, saying, " How did my son die ? " At 
that moment Rosella's child was born. When the ogress 
heard it she burst a blood-vessel (in her heart) and died. 
Then the King of Love took his wife and sisters, and they 
remained happy and contented. 1 

There is another version of this story in Pitre (No. 281) 
entitled, "The Crystal King," which resembles more closely 
the classic myth. 

A father marries the youngest of his three daughters to 
a cavalier (the enchanted son of a king) who comes to his 
wife at night only. The cavalier once permits his wife to 
visit her sisters, and they learn from her that she has 
never seen her husband's face. The eldest gives her a 
wax candle, and tells her to light it when her husband is 
asleep, and then she can see him and tell them what he is 
like. She did so, and beheld at her side a handsome youth ; 
but while she was gazing *at him some of the melted wax 
fell on his nose. He awoke, crying, " Treason ! treason ! " 



FAIRY TALES. 7 

and drove his wife from the house. On her wanderings 
she meets a hermit, and tells him her story. He advises her 
to have made a pair of iron shoes, and when she has worn 
them out in her travels she will come to a palace where 
they will give her shelter, and where she will find her hus- 
band. The remainder of the story is of no interest here. 2 

In the second class of stories belonging to this myth 
it is the curiosity of the husband which is punished, the 
best known example of this class, out of Italy, being. the 
beautiful French legend of Melusina. 3 A Sicilian story in 
Gonzenbach, No. 16, "The Story of the Merchant's Son 
Peppino," is a very close counterpart of "The King of 
Love," above given. Peppino is wrecked on a rock in the 
sea ; the rock opens, fair maidens come out and conduct 
Peppino to a beautiful castle in the cave. There a maiden 
visits him at night only. After a time Peppino wishes to 
see his parents, and his wife allows him to depart, with the 
promise to return at a certain date. His parents, after 
hearing his story, give him a candle with which to see his 
wife. Everything happens as in the first story ; the castle 
disappears, and Peppino finds himself on the top of a snow- 
covered mountain. He recovers his wife only after the 
lapse of many years and the accomplishment of many diffi- 
cult tasks. 4 

The third class, generally known by the title of " Beauty 
and the Beast," is best represented by a story from Montale 
(near Pistoja), called : 

II. ZELINDA AND THE MONSTER. 

There was once a poor man who had three daughters ; 
and as the youngest was the fairest and most civil, and had 
the best disposition, her other two sisters envied her with a 
deadly envy, although her father, on the contrary, loved her 
dearly. It happened that in a neighboring town, in the 
month of January, there was a great fair, and that poor 
man was obliged to go there to lay in the provisions neces- 
sary for the support of his family ; and before departing he 



8 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

asked his three daughters if they would like some small 
presents in proportion, you understand, to his means. Ro- 
sina wished a dress, Marietta asked him for a shawl, but 
Zelinda was satisfied with a handsome rose. The poor 
man set out on his journey early the next day, and when 
he arrived at the fair quickly bought what he needed, and 
afterward easily found Rosina's dress and Marietta's shawl ; 
but at that season he could not find a rose for his Zelinda, 
although he took great pains in looking everywhere for one. 
However, anxious to please his dear Zelinda, he took the 
first road he came to, and after journeying a while arrived 
at a handsome garden inclosed by high walls ; but as the 
gate was partly open he entered softly. He found the gar- 
den filled with every kind of flowers and plants, and in a 
corner was a tall rose-bush full of beautiful rose-buds. 
Wherever he looked no living soul appeared from whom he 
might ask a rose as a gift or for money, so the poor man, 
without thinking, stretched out his hand, and picked a rose 
for his Zelinda. 

Mercy ! scarcely had he pulled the flower from the stalk 
when there arose a great noise, and flames darted from the 
earth, and all at once there appeared a terrible Monster 
with the figure of a dragon, and hissed with all his might, 
and cried out, enraged at that poor Christian : " Rash man ! 
what have you done ? Now you must die at once, for you 
have had the audacity to touch and destroy my rose- 
bush." The poor man, more than half dead with terror, 
began to weep and beg for mercy on his knees, asking par- 
don for the fault he had committed, and told why he had 
picked the rose ; and then he added : " Let me depart ; I 
have a family, and if I am killed they will go to destruc- 
tion." But the Monster, more wicked than ever, re- 
sponded : " Listen ; one must die. Either bring me the 
girl that asked for the rose or I will kill you this very mo- 
ment." It was impossible to move him by prayers or lam- 
entations ; the Monster persisted in his decision, and did 
not let the poor man go until he had sworn to bring him 
there in the garden his daughter Zelinda. 



FAIRY TALES. 9 

Imagine how downhearted that poor man returned home! 
He gave his oldest daughters their presents and Zelinda 
her rose ; but his face was distorted and as white as though 
he had arisen from the dead ; so that the girls, in terror, 
asked him what had happened and whether he had met 
with any misfortune. They were urgent, and at last the 
poor man, weeping bitterly, related the misfortunes of that 
unhappy journey and on what condition he had been able 
finally to return home. "In short," he exclaimed, "either 
Zelinda or I must be eaten alive by the Monster." Then 
the two sisters emptied the vials of their wrath on Zelinda. 
" Just see," they said, " that affected, capricious girl ! She 
shall go to the Monster ! She who wanted roses at this 
season. No, indeed ! Papa must stay with us. The stupid 
creature ! " At all these taunts Zelinda, without growing 
angry, simply said : " It is right that the one who has 
caused the misfortune should pay for it. I will go to the 
Monster's. Yes, Papa, take me to the garden, and the 
Lord's will be done." 

The next day Zelinda and her sorrowful father began 
their journey and at nightfall arrived at the garden gate. 
When they entered they saw as usual no one, but they be- 
held a lordly palace all lighted and the doors wide open. 
When the two travellers entered the vestibule, suddenly 
four marble statues, with lighted torches in their hands, de- 
scended from their pedestals, and accompanied them up the 
stairs to a large hall where a table was lavishly spread. 
The travellers, who were very hungry, sat down and began 
to eat without ceremony ; and when they had finished, the 
same statues conducted them to two handsome chambers 
for the night. Zelinda and her father were so weary that 
they slept like dormice all night. 

At daybreak Zelinda and her father arose, and were 
served with everything for breakfast by invisible hands. 
Then they descended to the garden, and began to seek the 
Monster. When they came to the rose-bush he appeared 
in all his frightful ugliness. Zelinda, on seeing him, be- 
came pale with fear, and her limbs trembled, but the Mon- 



10 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

ster regarded her attentively with his great fiery eyes, and 
afterward said to the poor man : " Very well ; you have 
kept your word, and I am satisfied. Now depart and leave 
me alone here with the young girl." . At this command 
the old man thought he should die ; and Zelinda, too, stood 
there half stupefied and her eyes full of tears ; but en- 
treaties were of no avail ; the Monster remained as obdu- 
rate as a stone, and the poor man was obliged to depart, 
leaving his dear Zelinda in the Monster's power. 

When the Monster was alone with Zelinda he began to 
caress her, and make loving speeches to her, and managed 
to appear quite civil. There was no danger of his forget- 
ting her, and he saw that she wanted nothing, and every 
day, talking with her in the garden, he asked her: "Do you 
love me, Zelinda ? Will you be my wife ? " The young 
girl always answered him in the same way : " I like you, 
sir, but I will never be your wife." Then the Monster ap- 
peared very sorrowful, and redoubled his caresses and at- 
tentions, and, sighing deeply, said: "But you see, Zelinda, 
if you should marry me wonderful things would happen. 
What they are I cannot tell you until you will be my wife." 

Zelinda, although in her heart not dissatisfied with that 
beautiful place and with being treated like a queen, still 
did not feel at all like marrying the Monster, because he 
was too ugly and looked like a beast, and always answered 
his requests in the same manner. One day, however, the 
Monster called Zelinda in haste, and said : " Listen, Ze- 
linda ; if you do not consent to marry me it is fated that 
your father must die. He is ill and near the end of his 
life, and you will not be able even to see him again. See 
whether I am telling you the truth." And, drawing out an 
enchanted mirror, the Monster showed Zelinda her father 
on his death-bed. At that spectacle Zelinda, in despair 
and half mad with grief, cried : " Oh, save my father, for 
mercy's sake ! Let me be able to embrace him once more 
before he dies. Yes, yes, I promise you I will be your 
faithful and constant wife, and that without delay. But 
save my father from death." 



FAIRY TALES. II 

Scarcely had Zelinda uttered these words when suddenly 
the Monster was transformed into a very handsome youth. 
Zelinda was astounded by this unexpected change, and the 
young man took her by the hand, and said : " Know, dear 
Zelinda, that I am the son of the King of the Oranges. 
An old witch, touching me, changed me into the terrible 
Monster I was, and condemned me to be hidden in this rose- 
bush until a beautiful girl consented to become my wife." 

The remainder of the story has no interest here. Ze- 
linda and her husband strive to obtain his parents' consent 
to his marriage. They refuse' and the young couple run 
away from the royal palace and fall into the power of an 
ogre and his wife, from whom they at last escape. 5 

A characteristic trait of this class of stories is omitted in 
the above version, but found in a number of others. In a 
Sicilian version (Pitre, No. 39, "The Empress Rosina") the 
monster permits Rosina to visit her family, but warns her 
that if she does not return at the end of nine days he will 
die. He gives her a ring the stone of which will grow 
black in that event. The nine days pass unheeded, and 
when Rosina looks at her ring it is as black as pitch. She 
returns in haste, and finds the monster writhing in the last 
agony under the rose-bush. Four days she rubbed him 
with some ointment she found in the palace, and the mon- 
ster recovered. As in the last story, he resumes his shape 
when Rosina consents to marry him. In one of Pitre's 
variants the monster allows Elizabeth to visit her dying 
father, if she will promise not to tear her hair. When her 
father dies she forgets, in her grief, her promise, and tears 
out her hair. When she returns to the palace the monster 
has disappeared. She seeks him, exclaiming : — 

" Fierce animal mine, 
If I find thee alive 
I will marry thee although an animal." 

She finds him at last, and he resumes his form. 6 

The fourth class consists of stories more or less distantly 
connected with the first and third classes above mentioned, 



12 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

and which turn on the heroine's separation from, and search 
after, her lost husband, usually an animal in form. 

The example we have selected from this class is from 
Venice (Bernoni, XVII.), and is as follows : — 



III. KING BEAN. 

There was once an old man who had three daughters. 
One day the youngest called her father into her room, and 
requested him to go to King Bean and ask him whether he 
wished her for his wife. The poor old man said: "You 
want me to go, but what shall I do ; I have never been 
there?" "No matter," she answered; "I wish you to obey 
me and go." Then he started on his way, and asked (for 
he did not know) where the king lived, and they pointed 
out the palace to him. When he was in the king's pres- 
ence he said : " Your Majesty's servant." The king replied : 
" What do you want of me, my good old man ? " Then he 
told him that his daughter was in love with him, and 
wanted to marry him. The king answered : " How can she 
be in love with me when she has never seen or known 
me ? " " She is killing herself with weeping, and cannot 
stand it much longer." The king replied : " Here is a 
white handkerchief ; let her dry her tears with it." 

The old man took back the handkerchief and the mes- 
sage to his daughter, who said : " Well, after three or four 
days you must go back again, and tell him that I will kill 
myself or hang myself if he will not marry me." 

The old man went back, and said to the king: "Your 
Majesty, do me the favor to marry my daughter ; if not, she 
will make a great spectacle of herself." The king replied : 
" Behold how many handsome portraits I have here, and 
how many beautiful young girls I have, and not one of 
them suits me." The old man said: "She told me also 
to say to you that if you did not marry her she would kill 
herself or hang herself." Then the king gave him a knife 
and a rope, and said : " Here is a knife if she wants to kill 
herself, and here is a rope if she wants to hang herself." 



FAIRY TALES. 1 3 

The old man bore this message back to his daughter, 
who told her father that he must go back to the king again, 
and not leave him until he obtained his consent. The old 
man returned once more, and, falling on his knees before 
the king, said : " Do me this great favor : take my daughter 
for your wife ; do not say no, for the poor girl is beside 
herself." The king answered : " Rise, good old man, and 
I will consent, for I am sorry for your long journeys. But 
hear what your daughter must do first. She must prepare 
three vessels : one of milk and water, one of milk, and 'one 
of rose-water. And here is a bean ; when she wants to 
speak with me, let her go out on the balcony and open the 
bean, and I will come." 

The old man returned home this time more satisfied, and 
told his daughter what she must do. She prepared the 
three vessels as directed, and then opened the bean on the 
balcony, and saw at once something flying from a distance 
towards her. It flew into the room by the balcony, and 
entered the vessel of water and milk to bathe ; then it 
hastened into the vessel of milk, and finally into that con- 
taining the rose-water. And then there came out the hand- 
somest youth that was ever seen, and made love to the 
young girl. Afterward, when they were tired of their love- 
making, he bade her good-night, and flew away. 

After a time, when her sisters saw that she was always 
shut up in her room, the oldest said : " Why does she shut 
herself up in her room all the time ? " The other sister re- 
plied : " Because she has King Bean, who is making love 
to her." The oldest said : "Wait until she goes to church, 
and then we will see what there is in her room." One day 
the youngest locked her door, and went to church. Then 
the two sisters broke open the door, and saw the three ves- 
sels prepared, and said : " This is the vessel in which the 
king goes to bathe." The oldest said : " Let us go down 
into the store, and get some broken glass, and put a little 
in each of the three vessels ; and when the king bathes in 
them, the glass will pierce him and cut all his body." 

They did so, and then left the room looking as it did 



14 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

first. When the youngest sister returned, she went to her 
room, and wished to talk with her husband. She opened 
the balcony, and then she opened the bean, and saw at 
once her husband come flying from a distance, with his 
arms open to embrace her. He flew on to the balcony, 
and threw himself into the vessel of milk and water, and 
the pieces of glass pierced his body ; then he entered the 
vessel of milk and that of rose-water, and his body was 
filled with the fragments of glass. When he came out of 
the rose-water, he flew away. Then his wife hastened out 
on the balcony, and saw a streak of blood wherever he had 
flown. Then she looked into the vessels, and saw all three 
full of blood, and cried : " I have been betrayed ! I have 
been betrayed!" 

She called her father, and told him that she had been 
betrayed by her sisters, and that she wished to go away 
and see whether she could cure her husband. She de- 
parted, and had not gone far when she found herself in a 
forest. There she saw a little house, with a little bit of a 
door, at which she knocked, and heard a voice saying, 
"Are you Christians ? " She replied, "Yes." Then the door 
opened, and she saw a holy hermit, who said : " Blessed 
one, how did you get here ? In a moment the witches will 
come who might bewitch you." She replied : " Father, I am 
seeking King Bean, who is ill." The hermit said : " I know 
nothing about him. Climb that tree ; the witches will soon 
come, and you will learn something from them. If you 
want anything afterward, come to me, and I will give it to 
you." 

When she was up the tree she heard a loud noise and 
the words, " Here we are ! here we are ! " and all the 
witches run and seat themselves on the ground in the 
midst of the forest, and begin to say : " The cripple is not 
here ! Where has that cursed cripple gone ? " Some one 
answered: " Here she is coming!" Another said : "You 
cursed cripple, where have you been ? " The cripple an- 
swered : " Be still ; I will tell you now. But wait a moment 
until I shake this tree to see whether there is any one in 



FAIRY TALES. I 5 

it." The poor girl held on firmly so as not to fall down. 
After she had shaken it this cripple said to her compan- 
ions : "Do you want me to tell you something? King 
Bean has only two hours to live." Another witch said : 
" What is the matter with him ? " The cripple answered : 
" He had a wife, and she put some broken glass in the 
three vessels, and he filled his body with it." Another 
witch asked : " Is there nothing that can cure him ? " The 
cripple replied : " It is very difficult." Another said : 
"What would be necessary ? " The cripple said : " Listen 
to what it needs. One of us must be killed, and her blood 
put in a kettle, and have added to it the blood of one of 
these doves flying about here. When this blood is well 
mixed, it must be heated, and with this blood the whole 
body of the king must be anointed. Another thing yet is 
necessary. Under the stone you see there is a flask of 
water. The stone must be removed, a bottle of the water 
must be poured over the king, and all the bits of glass will 
come out of him, and in five minutes he will be safe and 
sound." 

Then the witches ate and drank until they were intoxi- 
cated and tired, and then threw themselves down on the 
ground to sleep. When the young girl saw that they were 
asleep, she descended quietly from the tree, knocked at the 
hermit's door, told him what the witches had said, and 
asked him for a kettle, knife, and bottle. He gave them to 
her, and caught a dove, which he killed, bled, and put the 
blood in a kettle. 

The young girl did not know which one of the witches 
to kill, but finally she decided to kill the cripple who had 
spoken, and put her blood in the kettle. Afterward she 
lifted the stone, found the flask of water, and filled her 
bottle with it. She then returned to the hermit, and told 
him all she had done. He gave her a physician's dress, 
which she put on, and went to the palace of King Bean. 
There she asked the guards to let her pass, for she was 
going, she said, to see about curing the king. The guards 
refused at first, but, seeing her so confident, allowed her to 



1 6 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

enter. The king's mother went to her at once and said : 
"My good physician, if you can cure my son, you shall 
mount the throne, and I will give you my crown." "I 
have come in haste from a distance," said the physician, 
"and will cure him." Then the physician went to the 
kitchen, put the kettle on the fire, and afterward entered 
the room of the king, who had but a few minutes to live, 
anointed his whole body with the blood, and then poured 
the bottle of water all over him. Then the glass came out 
of his body, and in five minutes he was safe and sound. 
The king said : "Here, physician, is my crown. I wish to 
put it on your head." The physician answered: "How 
did your Majesty come to have this slight trouble?" The 
king said : " On account of my wife. I went to make love 
to her, and she prepared for me three vessels of water and 
milk, of milk, and of rose-water, and put broken glass in 
them, so that I had my body full of it." Said the physi- 
cian : " See whether it was your wife who worked you this 
treason ! Could it not have been some one else ?" "That 
is impossible," said the king; "for no one entered her 
room." "And what would you do," said the physician, "if 
you had her now in your hands ? " " I would kill her with 
a knife." " You are right," said the physician ; " because, if 
it is true that she has acted thus, she deserves nothing but 
death." 

Then the physician said he must depart ; but the king's 
mother said : " No, no ! It shall never be said that after 
saving my son's life you went away. Here you are, and 
here I wish you to stay ; and, on account of the promise I 
made you, I wish my crown to come upon your head." "I 
want but one thing," said the physician. " Command, doc- 
tor ; only say what you desire." " I wish the king to write 
on the palm of one of my hands my name and surname, 
and on the other his name and surname." The king did 
so, and the physician said : " Now I am going to make 
some visits, then I will return." 

Instead of returning, the pretended physician went to her 
own home, and threw away the water and milk in the three 



FAIRY TALES. \ J 

vessels, and put in other pure water and milk and rose- 
water. Then she went out on the balcony, and opened the 
bean. The king, who felt his heart opened, seized his dag- 
ger, and hastened to his wife to kill her. When she saw 
the dagger, she raised her hands, and the king beheld his 
name and hers. Then he threw his dagger away, bathed 
in the three vessels, and then threw his arms about his 
wife's neck, and exclaimed : " If you are the one who did 
me so much harm, you are also the one who cured me/' 
She answered : " It was not I. I was betrayed by my 
sisters." "If that is so," said he, "come at once to my 
parents' house, and we will be married there." When she 
arrived at the king's palace, she related everything to his 
parents, and showed them her hands with her name and 
surname. Then the king's parents embraced her, and gave 
her a wedding, and she and the king loved each other as 
long as they lived. 7 

The next class to which we shall direct our attention is 
the one in which jealous relatives (usually envious sisters 
or mother-in-law), steal a mother's new-born children, who 
are exposed and afterwards rescued and brought up far 
from their home by some childless person ; or the mother 
is accused of having devoured them, and is repudiated or 
punished, and finally delivered and restored to her former 
position by her children, who are discovered by their fa- 
ther. 8 

The following story, belonging to this class, is from Pitre 
(No. 36), slightly condensed. 



IV. THE DANCING WATER, THE SINGING APPLE, AND 
THE SPEAKING BIRD. 9 

There was once an herb-gatherer who had three daugh- 
ters who earned their living by spinning. One day their 
father died and left them all alone in the world. Now the 
king had a habit of going about the streets at night, and 
listening at the doors to hear what the people said of him. 



1 8 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

One night he listened at the door of the house where the 
three sisters lived, and heard them disputing about some- 
thing. The oldest said : " If I were the wife of the royal 
butler, I would give the whole court to drink out of one 
glass of water, and there would be some left." The second 
said : "If I were the wife of the keeper of the royal ward- 
robe, with one piece of cloth I would clothe all the attend- 
ants, and have some left. The youngest said : " Were I 
the king's wife, I would bear him three children : two sons 
with apples in their hands, and a daughter with a star on 
her brow." 

The king went back to his palace, and the next morning 
sent for the sisters, and said to them : " Do not be fright- 
ened, but tell me what you said last night." The oldest 
told him what she had said, and the king had a glass of 
water brought, and commanded her to prove her words. 
She took the glass, and gave all the attendants to drink, and 
there was some water left. " Bravo ! " cried the king, and 
summoned the butler. " This is your husband. Now it 
is your turn," said the king to the next sister, and com- 
manded a piece of cloth to be brought, and the young girl 
at once cut out garments for all the attendants, and had 
some cloth left. " Bravo ! " cried the king again, and gave 
her the keeper of the wardrobe for her husband. " Now 
it is your turn," said the king to the youngest. " Your 
Majesty, I said that were I the king's wife, I would bear 
him three children : two sons with apples in their hands, 
and a daughter with a star on her brow." The king re- 
plied : " If that is true, you shall be queen ; if not, you shall 
die," and straightway he married her. 

Very soon the two older sisters began to be envious of 
the youngest. " Look," said they : " she is going to be 
queen, and we must be servants ! " and they began to hate 
her. A few months before the queen's children were to 
be born, the king declared war, and was obliged to depart ; 
but he left word that if the queen had three children : two 
sons with apples in their hands and a girl with a star on 
her brow, the mother was to be respected as queen ; if not, 



FAIRY TALES. 1 9 

he was to be informed of it, and would tell his servants 
what to do. Then he departed for the war. 

When the queen's children were born, as she had prom- 
ised, the envious sisters bribed the nurse to put little dogs 
in the place of the queen's children, and sent word to the 
king that his wife had given birth to three puppies. He 
wrote back that she should be taken care of for two weeks, 
and then put into a tread-mill. 

Meanwhile the nurse took the little babies, and carried 
them out of doors, saying : " I will make the dogs eat them 
up," and she left them alone. While they were thus ex- 
posed, three fairies passed by and exclaimed : " Oh how 
beautiful these children are ! " and one of the fairies said : 
"What present shall we make these children ? " One an- 
swered : " I will give them a deer to nurse them." " And I 
a purse always full of money." " And I," said the third 
fairy, " will give them a ring which will change color when 
any misfortune happens to one of them." 

The deer nursed and took care of the children until they 
grew up. Then the fairy who had given them the deer 
came and said : " Now that you have grown up, how can 
you stay here any longer ? " " Very well," said one of the 
brothers, " I will go to the city and hire a house." " Take 
care," said the deer, " that you hire one opposite the royal 
palace." So they all went to the city and hired a palace 
as directed, and furnished it as if they had been royal per- 
sonages. When the aunts saw these three youths, imagine 
their terror ! " They are alive ! " they said. They could 
not be mistaken, for there were the apples in their hands, 
and the star on the girl's brow. They called the nurse 
and said to her : " Nurse, what does this mean ? are our 
nephews and niece alive ? " The nurse watched at the win- 
dow until she saw the two brothers go out, and then she 
went over as if to make a visit to the new house. She en- 
tered and said : " What is the matter, my daughter ; how do 
you do ? Are you perfectly happy ? You lack nothing. 
But do you know what is necessary to make you really 
happy ? It is the Dancing Water. If your brothers love 



20 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

you, they will get it for you ! " She remained a moment 
longer and then departed. 

When one of the brothers returned, his sister said to 
him : "Ah ! my brother, if you love me go and get me the 
Dancing Water." He consented, and next morning saddled 
a fine horse, and departed. On his way he met a hermit, 
who asked him, " Where are you going, cavalier ? " " I am 
going for the Dancing Water." " You are going to your 
death, my son ; but keep on until you find a hermit older 
than I." He continued his journey until he met another 
hermit, who asked him the same question, and gave him 
the same direction. Finally he met a third hermit, older 
than the other two, with a white beard that came down to 
his feet, who gave him the following directions : " You 
must climb yonder mountain. On top of it you will find a 
great plain and a house with a beautiful gate. Before the 
gate you will see four giants with swords in their hands. 
Take heed ; do not make a mistake ; for if you do that is 
the end of you ! When the giants have their eyes closed, 
do not enter ; when they have their eyes open, enter. 
Then you will come to a door. If you find it open, do not 
enter; if you find it shut, push it open and enter. Then 
you will find four lions. When they have their eyes shut, 
do not enter ; when their eyes are open, enter, and you will 
see the Dancing Water." The youth took leave of the 
hermit, and hastened on his way. 

Meanwhile the sister kept looking at the ring constantly, 
to see whether the stone in it changed color ; but as it did 
not, she remained undisturbed. 

A few days after leaving the hermit the youth arrived at 
the top of the mountain, and saw the palace with the four 
giants before it. They had their eyes shut, and the door 
was open. "No," said the youth, "that won't do." And 
so he remained on the lookout a while. When the giants 
opened their eyes, and the door closed, he entered, waited 
until the lions opened their eyes, and passed in. There he 
found the Dancing Water, and filled his bottles with it, and 
escaped when the lions again opened their eyes. 



FAIRY TALES. 21 

The aunts, meanwhile, were delighted because their 
nephew did not return ; but in a few days he appeared and 
embraced his sister. Then they had two golden basins 
made, and put into them the Dancing Water, which leaped 
from one basin to the other. When the aunts saw it they 
exclaimed : " Ah ! how did he manage to get that water ? " 
and called the nurse, who again waited until the sister 
was alone, and then visited her. "You see," said she, 
"how beautiful the Dancing Water is! But do you know 
what you want now ? The Singing Apple." Then she de- 
parted. When the brother who had brought the Dancing 
Water returned, his sister said to him : " If you love me 
you must get for me the Singing Apple." " Yes, my sister, 
I will go and get it." 

Next morning he mounted his horse, and set out. After 
a time he met the first hermit, who sent him to an older 
one. He asked the youth where he was going, and said : 
" It is a difficult task to get the Singing Apple, but hear 
what you must do : Climb the mountain ; beware of the 
giants, the door, and the lions ; then you will find a little 
door and a pair of shears in it. If the shears are open, 
enter ; if closed, do not risk it." The youth continued his 
way, found the palace, entered, and found everything favor- 
able. When he saw the shears open, he went in a room 
and saw a wonderful tree, on top of which was an apple. 
He climbed up and tried to pick the apple, but the top of 
the tree swayed now this way, now that. He waited until 
it was still a moment, seized the branch, and picked the 
apple. He succeeded in getting safely out of the palace, 
mounted his horse, and rode home, and all the time he was 
carrying the apple it kept making a sound. 

The aunts were again delighted because their nephew 
was so long absent ; but when they saw him return, they 
felt as though the house had fallen on them. Again they 
summoned the nurse, and again she visited the young girl, 
and said : " See how beautiful they are, the Dancing Water 
and the Singing Apple ! But should you see the Speaking 
Bird, there would be nothing left for you to see." " Very 



22 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

well," said the young girl ; "we will see whether my brother 
will get it for me." 

When her brother came she asked him for the Speaking 
Bird, and he promised to get it for her. He met, as usual 
on his journey, the first hermit, who sent him to the second, 
who sent him on to a third one, who said to him : " Climb 
the mountain and enter the palace. You will find many 
statues. Then you will come to a garden, in the midst of 
which is a fountain, and on the basin is the Speaking Bird. 
If it should say anything to you, do not answer. Pick a 
feather from the bird's wing, dip it into a jar you will find 
there, and anoint all the statues. Keep your eyes open, 
and all will go well." 

The youth already knew well the way, and soon was in 
the palace. He found the garden and the bird, which, as 
soon as it saw him, exclaimed : " What is the matter, noble 
sir ; have you come for me ? You have missed it. Your 
aunts have sent you to your death, and you must remain 
here. Your mother has been sent to the tread-mill." " My 
mother in the tread-mill ? " cried the youth, and scarcely 
were the words out of his mouth when he became a statue 
like all the others. 

When the sister looked at her ring she saw that it had 
changed its color to blue. "Ah !" she exclaimed, and sent 
her other brother after the first. Everything happened to 
him as to the first. He met the three hermits, received his 
instructions, and soon found himself in the palace, where 
he discovered the garden with the statues, the fountain, 
and the Speaking Bird. 

Meanwhile the aunts, who saw that both their nephews 
were missing, were delighted ; and the sister, on looking at 
her ring, saw that it had become clear again. 

Now when the Speaking Bird saw the youth appear in 
the garden it said to him : " What has become of your 
brother? Your mother has been sent to the tread-mill." 
"Alas, my mother in the tread-mill!" And when he had 
spoken these words he became a statue. 

The sister looked at her ring, and it had become black. 



FAIRY TALES. 2$ 

Poor child ! not having anything else to do, she dressed 
herself like a page and set out. 

Like her brothers, she met the three hermits, and received 
their instructions. The third concluded thus : " Beware, for 
if you answer when the bird speaks you will lose your life." 
She "continued her way, followed exactly the hermit's direc- 
tions, and reached the garden in safety. When the bird 
saw her it exclaimed : " Ah ! you here, too ? " Now you 
will meet the same fate as your brothers. Do you see 
them ? one, two, and you make three. Your father is at 
the war. Your mother is in the tread-mill. Your aunts are 
rejoicing." She did not reply, but let the bird sing on. 
When it had nothing more to say it flew down, and the 
young girl caught it, pulled a feather from its wing, dipped 
it into the jar, and anointed her brothers' nostrils, and they 
at once came to life again. Then she did the same with 
all the other statues, with the lions and the giants, until all 
became alive again. Then she departed with her brothers, 
and all the noblemen, princes, barons, and kings' sons re- 
joiced greatly. Now when they had all come to life again 
the palace disappeared, and the hermits disappeared, for 
they were the three fairies. 

The day after the brothers and sister reached the city 
where they lived, they summoned a goldsmith, and had 
him make a gold chain, and fasten the bird with it. The 
next time the aunts looked out they saw in the window of 
the palace opposite the Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, 
and the Speaking Bird. "Well," said they, " the real trouble 
is coming now !" 

The bird directed the brothers and sister to procure a 
carriage finer than the king's, with twenty-four attendants, 
and to have the service of their palace, cooks and servants, 
more numerous and better than the king's. All of which 
the brothers did at once. And when the aunts saw these 
things they were ready to die of rage. 

At last the king returned from the war, and his subjects 
told him all the news of the kingdom, and the thing they 
talked about the least was his wife and children. One day 



24 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the king looked out of the window and saw the palace op- 
posite furnished in a magnificent manner. " Who lives 
there ? " he asked, but no one could answer him. He 
looked again and saw the brothers and sister, the former 
with the apples in their hands, and the latter with the star 
on her brow. " Gracious ! if I did not know that my wife 
had given birth to three puppies, I should say that those 
were my children," exclaimed the king. Another day he 
stood by the window and enjoyed the Dancing Water and 
the Singing Apple, but the bird was silent. After the 
king had heard all the music, the bird said : " What does 
your Majesty think of it?" The king was astonished at 
hearing the Speaking Bird, and answered : " What should 
I think? It is marvellous." "There is something more 
marvellous," said the bird ; "just wait." Then the bird told 
his mistress to call her brothers, and said : " There is the 
king; let us invite him to dinner on Sunday. Shall we not? " 
" Yes, yes," they all said. So the king was invited and ac- 
cepted, and on Sunday the bird had a grand dinner pre- 
pared and the king came. When he saw the young people, 
he clapped his hands and said : " I cannot persuade my- 
self ; they seem my children." 

He went over the palace and was astonished at its rich- 
ness. Then they went to dinner, and while they were eat- 
ing the king said : " Bird, every one is talking ; you alone 
are silent." "Ah! your Majesty, I am ill; but next Sun- 
day I shall be well and able to talk, and will come and dine 
at your palace with this lady and these gentlemen." The 
next Sunday the bird directed his mistress and her broth- 
ers to put on their finest clothes ; so they dressed in royal 
style and took the bird with them. The king showed them 
through his palace and treated them with the greatest cers- 
mony : the aunts were nearly dead with fear. When they 
had seated themselves at the table, the king said : " Come, 
bird, you promised me you would speak ; have you nothing 
to say ? " Then the bird began and related all that had 
happened from the time the king had listened at the door 
until his poor wife had been sent to the tread-mill ; then 



FAIRY TALES. 2$ 

the bird added : " These are your children, and your wife 
was sent to the mill, and is dying." When the king heard 
all this, he hastened to embrace his children, and then went 
to find his poor wife, who was reduced to skin and bones 
and was at the point of death. He knelt before her and 
begged her pardon, and then summoned her sisters and the 
nurse, and when they were in his presence he said to the 
bird : " Bird, you who have told me everything, now pro- 
nounce their sentence." Then the bird sentenced the 
nurse to be thrown out of the window, and the sisters to 
be cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. This was at once 
done. The king was never tired of embracing his wife. 
Then the bird departed and the king and his wife and chil- 
dren lived together in peace. 10 

We next pass to the class of stories in which children 
are promised by their parents to witches or the Evil One. 
The children who are thus promised are often unborn, and 
the promise is made by the parents either to escape some 
danger with which they are threatened by witch or demon, 
or in return for money. Sometimes there is a misunder- 
standing, as in Grimm's story of the " Handless Maiden," 
where the Miller in return for riches promises the Evil 
One to give him "what stands behind his mill." The Mil- 
ler supposes his apple-tree is meant, but it is his daughter, 
who happened to be behind the mill when the compact was 
made. The most usual form of the story in Italian is this : 
A woman who expects to give birth to a child is seized with 
a great longing for some herb or fruit (generally parsley) 
growing in the witch's garden. The witch (ogress) catches 
her picking it, and only releases her on condition that she 
shall give her the child after it is born and has reached a 
definite age. The following Sicilian story from Gonzenbach 
(No. 53) will illustrate this class sufficiently : 



26 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

V. THE FAIR ANGIOLA. 

Once upon a time there were seven women, neighbors, 
all of whom were seized with a great longing for some ju- 
jubes which only grew in a garden opposite the place 
where they all lived, and which belonged to a witch. Now 
this witch had a donkey that watched the garden and told 
the old witch when any one entered. The seven neighbors, 
however, had such a desire for the jujubes that they en- 
tered the garden and threw the donkey some nice soft 
grass, and while he was eating it they filled their aprons 
with jujubes and escaped before the witch appeared. This 
they did several times, until at last the witch noticed that 
some one had been in her garden, for many of the jujubes 
were gone. She questioned the donkey, but he had eaten 
the nice grass and noticed nothing. Then she resolved the 
third day to remain in the garden herself. In the middle 
of it was a hole, in which she hid and covered herself with 
leaves and branches, leaving only one of her long ears 
sticking out. The seven neighbors once more went into 
the garden and began picking jujubes, when one of them 
noticed the witch's ear sticking out of the leaves and 
thought it was a mushroom and tried to pick it. Then the 
witch jumped out of the hole and ran after the women, all 
of whom escaped but one. The witch was going to eat 
her, but she begged hard for pardon and promised never to 
enter the garden again. The witch finally forgave her on 
the condition that she would give her her child, yet unborn, 
whether a boy or girl, when it was seven years old The 
poor woman promised in her distress, and the witch let her 

go- 
Some time after the woman had a beautiful little girl 
whom she named Angiola. When Angiola was six years 
old, her mother sent her to school to learn to sew and knit. 
On her way to school she had to pass the garden where 
the witch lived. One day, when she was almost seven, 
she saw the witch standing in front of her garden. She 
beckoned to Angiola and gave her some fine fruits and 



FAIRY TALES. 2 J 

said : " You see, fair Angiola, I am your aunt. Tell your 
mother you have seen your aunt, and she sends her word 
not to forget her promise." Angiola went home and told 
her mother, who was frightened and said to herself : " Ah ! 
the time has come when I must give up my Angiola." 
Then she said to the child : " When your aunt asks you 
to-morrow for an answer, tell her you forgot her errand." 
The next day she told the witch as she was directed. 
" Very well," she replied, " tell her to-day, but don't for- 
get." Thus several days passed ; the witch was constantly 
on the watch for Angiola when she went to school, and 
wanted to know her mother's answer, but Angiola always 
declared that she had forgotten to ask her. One day, how- 
ever, the witch became angry and said : " Since you are 
so forgetful, I must give you some token to remind you 
of your errand." Then she bit Angiola's little finger so 
hard that she bit a piece out. Angiola went home in tears 
and showed her mother her finger. " Ah ! " thought her 
mother, " there is no help for it. I must give my poor 
child to the witch, or else she will eat her up in her anger." 
The next morning as Angiola was going to school, her 
mother said to her : " Tell your aunt to do with you as she 
thinks best." Angiola did so, and the witch said : " Very 
well, then come with me, for you are mine." 

So the witch took the fair Angiola with her and led her 
away to a tower which had no door and but one small win- 
dow. There Angiola lived with the witch, who treated her 
very kindly, for she loved her as her own child. When the 
witch came home after her excursions, she stood under the 
window and cried : " Angiola, fair Angiola, let down your 
pretty tresses and pull me up ! " Now Angiola had beauti- 
ful long hair, which she let down and with which she pulled 
the witch up. 

Now it happened one day when Angiola had grown to 
be a large and beautiful maiden, that the king's son went 
hunting and chanced to come where the tower was. He 
was astonished at seeing the house without any door, and 
wondered how the people got in. Just then the old witch 



28 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

returned home, stood under the window, and called : " An- 
giola, fair Angiola, let down your beautiful tresses and pull 
me up. " Immediately the beautiful tresses fell down, and 
the witch climbed up by them. This pleased the prince 
greatly, and he hid himself near by until the witch went 
away again. Then he went and stood under the window 
and called: "Angiola, fair Angiola, let down your beauti- 
ful tresses and pull me up." Then Angiola let down her 
tresses and drew up the prince, for she believed it was the 
witch. When she saw the prince, she was much fright- 
ened at first, but he addressed her in a friendly manner and 
begged her to fly with him and become his wife. 

She finally consented, and in order that the witch should 
not know where she had gone she gave all the chairs, ta- 
bles, and cupboards in the house something to eat; for 
they were all living beings and might betray her. The 
broom, however, stood behind the door, so she did not no- 
tice it, and gave it nothing to eat. Then she took from 
the witch's chamber three magic balls of yarn, and fled 
with the prince. The witch had a little dog that loved the 
fair Angiola so dearly that it followed her. 

Soon after they had fled, the witch came back, and 
called : " Angiola, fair Angiola, let down your beautiful 
tresses and draw me up." But the tresses were not let 
down for all she called, and at last she had to get a long 
ladder and climb in at the window. When she could not 
find Angiola, she asked the tables and chairs and cup- 
boards : " Where has she fled ? " But they answered : 
"We do not know." The broom, however, called out from 
the corner : " The fair Angiola has fled with the king's son, 
who is going to marry her." Then the witch started in 
pursuit of them and nearly overtook them. But Angiola 
threw down behind her one of the magic balls of yarn, and 
there arose a great mountain of soap. When the witch 
tried to climb it she slipped back, but she persevered until 
at last she succeeded in getting over it, and hastened after 
the fugitives. Then Angiola threw down the second ball 
of yarn, and there arose a great mountain covered all 



FAIRY TALES. 29 

over with nails small and large. Again the witch had to 
struggle hard to cross it ; when she did she was almost 
flayed. When Angiola saw that the witch had almost 
overtaken them again, she threw down the third ball, and 
there arose a mighty torrent. The witch tried to swim 
across it, but the stream kept increasing in size until she 
had at last to turn back. Then in her anger she cursed 
the fair Angiola, saying : " May your beautiful face be 
turned into the face of a dog ! " and instantly Angiola's 
face became a dog's face. 

The prince was very sorrowful and said : " How can I 
take you home to my parents ? They would never allow 
me to marry a maiden with a dog's face." So he took her 
to a little house, where she was to live until the enchant- 
ment was removed. He himself returned to his parents ; 
but whenever he went hunting he visited poor Angiola. 
She often wept bitterly over her misfortunes, until one day 
the little dog that had followed her from the witch's said : 
" Do not weep, fair Angiola. I will go to the witch and 
beg her to remove the enchantment." Then the little dog 
started off and returned to the witch and sprang up on 
her and caressed her. " Are you here again, you ungrate- 
ful beast ? " cried the witch, and pushed the dog away. 
" Did you leave me to follow the ungrateful Angiola ? " But 
the little dog caressed her until she grew friendly again 
and took him up on her lap. " Mother," said the little dog, 
" Angiola sends you greeting ; she is very sad, for she can- 
not go to the palace with her dog's face and cannot marry 
the prince." "That serves her right," said the witch. 
" Why did she deceive me ? She can keep her dog's face 
now ! " But the dog begged her so earnestly, saying that 
poor Angiola was sufficiently punished, that at last the 
witch gave the dog a flask of water, and said : " Take that 
to her and she will become the fair Angiola again." The 
dog thanked her, ran off with the flask, and brought it 
safely to poor Angiola. As soon as she washed in the 
water, her dog's face disappeared and she became beautiful 
again, more beautiful even than she had been before. The 



30 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

prince, full of joy, took her to the palace, and the king and 
queen were so pleased with her beauty that they welcomed 
her, and gave her a splendid wedding, and all remained 
happy and contented. 11 

An interesting class of stories is the one in which the 
heroes are twin brothers (sometimes three born at the 
same time, or a larger number) who are born in some un- 
usual manner, generally in consequence of the mother's 
partaking of some magic fruit or fish. One of the brothers 
undertakes some difficult task (liberation of princess, etc.) 
and falls into great danger ; the other brother discovers 
the fact from some sympathetic object and proceeds to res- 
cue him. The following story from Pisa (Comparetti, No. 
32) will give a good idea of the Italian stories of this class : 

VI. THE CLOUD. 

Once upon a time there was a fisherman who had a wife 
and many children. Now it happened that the fisherman 
did not catch any fish for a time and did not know how to 
support his family. One day he cast his net and drew out 
a large fish which began to talk : " Let me go and cast in 
your net again and you will catch as many fish as you 
wish." The fisherman did so and caught more fish than 
he remembered to have taken before. But in a few days 
the fish were gone and the fisherman cast his net again, 
and again caught the big fish, which said : " I see clearly 
that I must die, so kill me now, and cut me into pieces. 
Give half to the king, a piece to your wife, one to your dog, 
and one to your horse ; the bones you will tie to the 
kitchen rafters ; your wife will bear sons, and when any- 
thing happens to one of them the fish-bone will sweat 
drops of blood." The fisherman did as he was told, and in 
due time his wife gave birth to three sons, the dog to three 
puppies, and the horse to three colts. The boys grew up 
and went to school and learned much and prospered. One 
day the oldest said : " I want to go and see a little of the 



FAIRY TALES. 3 1 

world," and took one of the dogs, one of the horses, and 
some money, and set out, after receiving his father's and 
mother's blessing. He arrived at a forest, and there saw a 
lion, an eagle, and an ant which had found a dead ass that 
they wanted to divide among themselves, but could not 
agree and so were quarrelling. They saw the youth, and 
called on him to make the division. He was afraid at first, 
but took heart and gave the lean meat to the eagle, the 
brains to the ant, and the rest to the lion. They were all 
satisfied, and the youth continued his way. After he had 
gone a few steps the animals called him back, and the lion 
said : " You have settled our dispute, and we wish to re- 
ward you ; when you wish to become a lion, you have only 
to say : ' No more a man, a lion, with the strength of a 
hundred lions ! ' ' The eagle said : " When you wish to be- 
come an eagle, say : ' No more a man, an eagle, with the 
strength of a hundred eagles ! ' " The ant, also, gave him 
power to transform himself into an ant in the same way. 
The youth thanked them and departed. As he was pass- 
ing along the shore of the sea, he saw a dog-fish that was 
out of the water ; he put it back into the sea. The fish 
said : " When you need me, come to the sea and cry : 
' Dog-fish, help me!"' 

The youth continued his way and arrived at a city all 
hung with mourning. " What is the matter ? " the young 
man asked. " There is here," they told him, "a big cloud 
(it was a fairy) that every year must have a young girl. 
This year the lot has fallen on the king's daughter. If 
they do not give her up, the cloud will throw so many 
things into the city that we shall all be killed." The youth 
asked if he could see how the thing went, and they told him 
he could. The ceremony began with muffled drums and 
an escort of soldiers ; the king and queen in tears accom- 
panied their daughter, who was taken to the top of a moun- 
tain, placed in a chair, and left alone. The youth, who had 
followed them, hid himself behind a bush. Then the cloud 
came, took the young girl in her lap, took her finger in her 
mouth, and began to suck her blood. This was what the 



32 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

cloud lived on. The princess remained half dead, like a 
log, and then the cloud carried her away. The youth, who 
had seen all this, cried : " No more a man, an eagle, with 
the strength of a hundred eagles ! " Then he became an 
eagle and flew after the cloud. They arrived at a palace, 
the doors flew open and the cloud entered and carried the 
princess up-stairs. The eagle alighted on a tree opposite 
and saw a large room all full of young girls in bed. When 
the cloud entered they exclaimed : " Mamma ! here is our 
mamma ! " The poor girls were always in bed, because 
the fairy half killed them. She put the princess in a bed, 
and said to the girls : " I am going to leave you for a few 
days." She went away and left the girls. The youth was 
near and heard everything ; he said : " No more an eagle, 
an ant, with the force of a hundred ants ! " He became an 
ant, entered the palace unseen, and went to the room 
where the young girls were. There he resumed his shape, 
and the girls were astonished at seeing a man appear so 
suddenly, and one of them said to him : " Take care, there 
is a fairy here ; if she finds you on her return she will kill 
you." "Do not be troubled," he answered, "for I wish to 
see about setting you all free." Then he went to the bed of 
the king's daughter and asked her if she had some token to 
send her mother. She gave him a ring, and the youth took 
it and went to the queen, told her where her daughter was, 
and asked her to send some food to the poor girl. She did 
so, and the youth retraced his steps, reached the palace, in- 
formed the girls, and drew up the food with ropes. He 
then said to the girls : " When the fairy returns, ask her 
what you shall do when she dies ; thus you will find out how 
to kill her." Then he hid himself, and when the fairy re- 
turned the girls asked her the question ; but she answered : 
" I shall never die." They urged her to tell them, and the 
next day she took them out on a terrace, and said : " Do 
you see that mountain far off there ? On that mountain is a 
tigress with seven heads. If you wish me to die, a lion must 
fight that tigress and tear off all seven of her heads. In her 
body is an &gg, and if any one hits me with it in the middle 



FAIRY TALES. 33 

of my forehead I shall die ; but if that egg falls into my 
hands the tigress will come to life again, resume her seven 
heads, and I shall live." " Good ! " said the young girls ; "cer- 
tainly our mamma can never die." But in their hearts they 
were discouraged. When the fairy had departed, the youth 
came forth and they told him all. " Do not be disheart- 
ened," he said, and straightway went to the princess' father, 
asked him for a room, a pan of bread, a barrel of good wine,' 
and a child seven years old. He took all these things and 
shut himself up in the room, and said to the child : " Do 
you want to see something, my child ? I am going to turn 
into a lion." Then he turned into a lion, and the child was 
afraid ; but the youth persuaded him that it was only him- 
self after all, and the child fed him, and was no longer 
frightened. As soon as he had instructed the child, he 
took all the things and went to the mountain where the ti- 
gress was. Then he filled the pan with bread and wine and 
said to the child : "I am going to become a lion ; when 
I return give me something to eat." Then he became a 
lion, and went to fight the tigress. Meanwhile the fairy 
returned home, saying : " Alas ! I feel ill ! " The young 
girls said to themselves, in delight : " Good ! " The youth 
fought until night, and tore off one of the tigress' heads ; 
the second day another, and so on until six heads were 
gone. The fairy kept losing her strength all the time. 
The youth rested two days before tearing off the last head, 
and then resumed the fight. At evening the last head was 
torn off, and the dead tigress disappeared, but the youth 
was not quick enough to catch the egg, which rolled from 
her body into the sea and was swallowed by the dog-fish. 
Then the youth went to the sea : " Dog-fish, help me ! " 
The fish appeared : " What do you want ? " " Have you 
found an egg?" "Yes." "Give it to me;" and the fish 
gave him the egg. He took it and went in search of the 
fairy, and suddenly appeared before her with the egg in his 
hand. The fairy wanted him to give her the egg, but he 
made her first restore all the young girls to health and 
send them home in handsome carriages. Then the youth 
3 



34 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

took the egg, struck it on the fairy's forehead, and she fell 
down dead. When the youth saw that she was really dead, 
he entered a carriage with the king's daughter and drove to 
the palace. When the king and queen saw their daughter 
again, they wept for joy, and married her to her deliverer. 
The wedding took place with great magnificence, and there 
were great festivities and rejoicings in the city. 

A few days after, the husband looked out of the window 
and saw at the end of the street a dense fog ; he said to his 
wife : "I will go and see what that fog is." So he dressed 
for the chase and went away with his dog and horse. 
After he had passed through the mist, he saw a mountain 
on which were two beautiful ladies. They came to meet 
him, and invited him to their palace. He accepted and 
they showed him into a room, and one of the ladies asked : 
" Would you like to play a game of chess ? " " Very well," 
he answered, and began to play and lost. Then they took 
him into a garden where there were many marble statues, 
and turned him into one, together with his clog and horse. 
These ladies were sisters of the fairy, and this was the way 
they avenged her death. 

Meanwhile the princess waited and her husband did not 
return. One morning the father and brothers of the youth 
found the kitchen full of blood, which dropped from the fish- 
bone. " Something has happened to him," they said, and 
the second brother started in search of him with another 
one of the dogs and horses. He passed by the palace of 
the princess, who was at the window, and those brothers 
looked so much alike that when she saw him she thought 
it was her husband and called him. He entered and she 
spoke to him of the fog, but he did not understand her ; he 
let her talk on, however, imagining that his brother was 
mixed up in that affair. The next morning he arose and 
went to see the fog with his dog and horse. He passed 
through the fog, found the mountain and the two ladies, 
and, to make the story short, the same thing happened to 
him that happened to his brother, and he became stone. 
And the queen waited, and in the father's kitchen the bone 
dropped blood faster than ever. 



FAIRY TALES. 35 

The third brother too set out with his dog and horse. 
When he came to the palace, the princess saw him from 
the window, took him for her husband, and called him in. 
He entered and she reproved him for having made her 
wait so long, and spoke of the mist ; but he did not under- 
stand her and said : "I did not see very clearly what was 
in the mist, and I wish to go there again." He departed,, 
and when he had passed through the mist he met an old 
man who said to him : " Where are you going ? Take care, 
your brothers have been turned into statues. You will 
meet two ladies ; if they ask you to play chess with them, 
here are two pawns, say that you cannot play except with 
your own pawns. Then make an agreement with them 
that, if you win, you can do with them what you please ; if 
they win, they can do what they please with you. If you 
win, and they beg for mercy, command them to restore to 
life all the stone statues with which the palace is filled, and 
when they have done so, you can do what you will with 
these ladies." 

The youth thanked the old man, departed, followed his 
directions, and won. The two ladies begged for their lives, 
and he granted their prayer on condition of restoring to life 
all those stone statues. They took a wand, touched the 
statues, and they became animated ; but no sooner were 
they all restored to life than they fell on the two ladies and 
cut them into bits no larger than their ears. 

Thus the three brothers were reunited. They related 
their adventures, and returned to the palace. The princess 
was astonished when she saw them, and did not know 
which was her husband. But he made himself known, told 
her that these were his brothers, and they had their par- 
ents come there, and they all lived happily together, and 
thus the story is ended. 12 

We now pass to the class of stories in which one of 
several brothers succeeds in some undertaking where the 
others fail, and thereby draws down on himself the hatred 
of the others, who either abandon him in a cavern, or kill 



36 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

him and hide his body, which is afterwards discovered by a 
musical instrument made of one of the bones or of the 
reeds growing over the grave. The former treatment is 
illustrated by a Sicilian tale (Pitre, No. 80) called : 



VII. THE CISTERN. 

There were once three king's sons. Two of them were 
going hunting one day, and did not want to take their 
youngest brother with them. Their mother asked them to 
let him go with them, but they would not. The youngest 
brother, however, followed them, and they had to take him 
with them. They came to a beautiful plain, where they 
found a fine cistern, and ate their lunch near it. After 
they had finished, the oldest said : " Let us throw our 
youngest brother into the cistern, for we cannot take him 
with us." Then he said to his brother: " Salvatore, would 
you like to descend into this cistern, for there is a treas- 
ure in it ? " The youngest consented, and they lowered 
him down. When he reached the bottom, he found three 
handsome rooms and an old woman, who said to him : 
"What are you doing here?" "I am trying to find my 
way out ; tell me how to do it." The old woman answered : 
" There are here three princesses in the power of the ma- 
gician ; take care." " Never mind, tell me what to do ; I am 
not afraid." "Knock at that door." He did so and a prin- 
cess appeared : " What has brought you here ? " " I have 
come to liberate you ; tell me what I have to do." " Take 
this apple and pass through that door ; my sister is there, 
who can give you better directions than I can." 

She gave him the apple as a token. He knocked at that 
door, another princess appeared, who gave him a pomegran- 
ate for a remembrance and directed him to knock at a third 
door. It opened and the last princess appeared. "Ah! 
Salvatore " (for she knew who he was), " what have you 
come for ? " " I have come to liberate you ; tell me what to 
do." She gave him a crown, and said : " Take this ; when 
you are in need, say : ' I command ! I command ! ' and 



FAIRY TALES. 37 

the crown will obey you. Now enter and eat ; take this 
bottle ; the magician, you see, is about rising ; hide your- 
self behind this door, and when he awakens he will ask 
you : ' What are you here for ? ' You will answer : ' I have 
come to fight you ; but you must agree to take smaller horse 
and sword than mine, because I am smaller than you.' 
You will see there a fountain which will invite you to drink ; 
do not risk it, for all the statues you see there are human 
beings who have become statues drinking that water ; 
when you are thirsty drink secretly from this bottle." 

With these directions the youth went and knocked at the 
door. Just then the magician arose and said : " What are 
you here for ? " " I have come to fight with you." And he 
added what the princess had told him. The fountain in- 
vited him to drink, but he would not. They began to fight, 
and at the first blow the youth cut off the magician's 
head. He took the head and sword, and went to the prin- 
cesses and said : " Get your things together, and let us go, for 
my brothers are still waiting at the mouth of the cistern." 

Let us now return to the brothers. After they had low- 
ered their youngest brother into the cistern, they turned 
around and went back to the royal palace. The king 
asked : " Where is your brother ? " " We lost him in a wood, 
and could not find him." " Quick! " said the king, " go and 
find my son, or I will have your heads cut off." So they 
departed, and on their way found a man with a rope and a 
bell, and took them with them. When they reached the 
cistern, they lowered the rope with the bell, saying among 
themselves : " If he is alive he will hear the bell and 
climb up ; if he is dead, what shall we do with our father ? " 
When they lowered the rope, Salvatore made the princesses 
ascend one by one. As the first appeared, who was the 
oldest, the oldest brother said : " Oh, what a pretty girl ! 
This one shall be my wife." When the second appeared, 
the other brother said : " This is mine." The youngest 
princess did not wish to ascend, and said to Salvatore : 
"You go up, Salvatore, first; if you do not, your brothers 
will leave you here." He said he would not ; she said he 



38 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

must ; finally he prevailed, and she ascended. When she 
appeared the two brothers took her, and left Salvatore in 
the cistern, and returned to the palace. When they arrived 
there, they said to their father : " We have looked for Sal- 
vatore, but we could not find him ; but we have found 
these three young girls, and now we wish to marry them." 
"I," said the oldest brother, "will take this one." "And 
I," said the second, " take this one. The other sister we 
will marry to some other youth." 

Now let us return to Salvatore, who, when he found him- 
self alone and disconsolate, felt in his pockets and touched 
the apple. " O my apple, get me out of this place ! " And 
at once he found himself out of the cistern. He went to 
the city where he lived, and met a silversmith, who took 
him as an apprentice, feeding and clothing him. While he 
was with the silversmith, the king commanded the latter to 
make a crown for his oldest son, who was to be married : 
"You must make me a royal crown for my son, and to- 
morrow evening you must bring it to me." 

He gave him ten ounces and dismissed him. When he 
reached home, the silversmith was greatly disturbed, for he 
had such a short time to make the crown in. Salvatore 
said : " Grandfather, why are you so disturbed ? " The mas- 
ter replied : " Take these ten ounces, for now I am going 
to seek refuge in a church, for there is nothing else for me 
to do." (For in olden times the church had the privilege 
that whoever robbed or killed fled to the church, and 
they could not do anything with him.) The apprentice re- 
plied : " Now I will see if I can make this crown. My 
.master would take refuge in a church for a trifle." So he 
began to make the crown. What did he do ? He took out 
the apple and commanded it to make a very beautiful 
crown. He hammered away, but the apple made the 
crown. When it was finished he gave it to the wife of the 
silversmith, who took it to her husband. When the latter 
saw that he need not flee to the church, he went to the 
king, who, well pleased, invited him to the feast in the 
evening. When he told this at home, the apprentice said : 



FAIRY TALES. 39 

" Take me to the feast." " How can I take you when you 
have no clothes fit to wear ? I will buy you some, and 
when there is another feast I will take you." When it 
struck two, the silversmith departed, and Salvatore took 
the apple and said : " O my apple, give me clothes and 
carriages and footmen, for I am going to see my brother 
married." Immediately he was dressed like a prince, and 
went to the palace, where he hid in the kitchen, saw his 
brother married, and then took a big stick and gave the 
silversmith a sound beating. When the latter reached 
home, he cried : " I am dying ! I am dying ! " " What is the 
matter ? " asked the apprentice, and when he learned what 
had happened, he said : " If you had taken me with you to 
the feast this would not have happened." 

A few days after, the king summoned the silversmith 
again to make another crown within twenty-four hours. 
Everything happened as before : the apprentice made a 
crown handsomer than the first, with the aid of the pome- 
granate. The smith took it to the king, but after the feast 
came home with his shoulders black and blue from the 
beating he received. 

After a time they wanted to marry the third sister, but 
she said : " Who wishes me must wait a year, a month, and 
a day." And she had no peace wondering why Salvatore 
did not appear for all he had the apple, the pomegran- 
ate, and the crown. After a year, a month, and a day, the 
wedding was arranged, and the smith had orders to make 
another crown more beautiful than the first two. (This was 
so that no one could say that because the young girl was a 
foreigner they treated her worse than the others.) Again 
the smith was in despair, and the apprentice had to make, 
by the aid of his magic crown, a better and larger crown 
than the others. The king was astonished when he saw 
the beautiful crown, and again invited the silversmith to the 
feast. The smith returned home sorrowful, for fear that he 
should again receive a beating, but he would not take his 
apprentice with him. 

After Salvatore had seen him depart, he took his magic 



40 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

crown and ordered splendid clothes and carriages. When 
he reached the palace, he did not go to the kitchen, but be- 
fore the bride and groom could say " yes," " Stop ! " said 
Salvatore. He took the apple and said: "Who gave me 
this ? " " I did," replied the wife of the oldest brother. 
"And this ?" showing the pomegranate. "I, my brother-in- 
law," said the wife of the second brother. Then he took 
out the crown. " Who gave me that ? " " I, my husband," 
said the young girl whom they were marrying. And at 
once she married Salvatore, "for," said she, "he freed me 
from the magician." 

The bridegroom was fooled and had to go away, and the 
astonished silversmith fell on his knees, begging for pity 
and mercy. 13 

In some of the versions of the above story, the hero, after 
he is abandoned by his brothers in the cistern or cave, is 
borne into the upper world by an eagle. The rapacious 
bird on the journey demands from the young man flesh 
from time to time. At last the stock of flesh with which 
he had provided himself is exhausted and he is obliged to 
cut off and give the eagle a piece of his own flesh. In one 
version (Pitre, ii. p. 208) he gives the eagle his leg ; and 
when the journey is concluded the bird casts it up, and the 
hero attaches it again to his body, and becomes as sound as 
ever. 14 

The class of stories in which the brother is killed and 
his death made known by a musical instrument fashioned 
from his body is sufficiently illustrated by a short Neapoli- 
tan story (Imbriani, Pomiglianesi, p. 195) entitled: 

VIII. THE GRIFFIN. 

There was once a king who had three sons. His eyes 
were diseased, and he called in a physician who said that to 
cure them he needed a feather of the griffin. Then the 
king said to his sons : " He who finds this feather for me 
shall have my crown." The sons set out in search of it. 



FAIRY TALES. 4 1 

The youngest met an old man, who asked him what he was 
doing. He replied : " Papa is ill. To cure him a feather 
of the griffin is necessary. And papa has said that who- 
ever finds the feather shall have his crown." The old man 
said : " Well, here is some corn. When you reach a certain 
place, put it in your hat. The griffin will come and eat it. 
Seize him, pull out a feather, and carry it to papa." The 
youth did so, and for fear that some one should steal it from 
him, he put it into his shoe, and started all joyful to carry 
it to his father. On his way he met his brothers, who 
asked him if he had found the feather. He said No ; but 
his brothers did not believe him, and wanted to search him. 
They looked everywhere, but did not find it. Finally they 
looked in his shoe and got it. Then they killed the young- 
est brother, and buried him, and took the feather to their 
father, saying that they had found it. The king healed his 
eyes with it. A shepherd one day, while feeding his sheep, 
saw that his dog was always digging in the same place, 
and went to see what it was, and found a bone. He put it 
to his mouth, and saw that it sounded and said : " Shep- 
herd, keep me in your mouth, hold me tight, and do not let 
me go ! For a feather of the griffin, my brother has played 
the traitor, my brother has played the traitor." 

One day the shepherd, with this whistle in his mouth, 
was passing by the king's palace, and the king heard him, 
and called him to see what it was. The shepherd told him 
the story, and how he had found it. The king put it to his 
mouth, and the whistle said : " Papa ! papa ! keep me in 
your mouth, hold me tight, and do not let me go. For a 
feather of the griffin, my brother has played the traitor, my 
brother has played the traitor." Then the king put it in 
the mouth of the brother who had killed the youngest, and 
the whistle said : " Brother ! brother ! keep me in your 
mouth, hold me fast, and do not let me go. For a feather 
of the griffin, you have played the traitor, you have played 
the traitor." Then the king understood the story and had 
his two sons put to death. And thus they killed their 
brother and afterwards were killed themselves. 15 



42 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

The feminine counterpart of " Boots," or the successful 
youngest brother, is Cinderella, the youngest of three sis- 
ters who despise and ill-treat her. Her usual place is in 
the chimney-corner, and her name is derived from the grime 
of cinders and ashes (her name in German is Aschenputtel). 
Assisted by some kind fairy who appears in various forms, 
she reveals herself in her true shape, captivates the prince, 
who finally recognizes her by the slipper. There are two 
branches of this story: the one just mentioned, and one 
where the heroine assumes a repulsive disguise in order to 
escape the importunities of a father who wishes to marry 
her. This second branch may be distinguished by the 
name of " Allerleirauh," the well-known Grimm story of 
this class. For the first branch of this story we have se- 
lected a Florentine story {Novellaja fior. p. 151) called: 

IX. CINDERELLA. 

Once upon a time there was a man who had three daugh- 
ters. He was once ordered to go away to work, and said to 
them : "Since I am about making a journey, what do you 
want me to bring you when I return ? " One asked for a 
handsome dress ; the other, a fine hat and a beautiful shawl. 
He said to the youngest: "And you, Cinderella, what do 
you want ? " They called her Cinderella because she always 
sat in the chimney-corner. "You must buy me a little 
bird Verdelio." " The simpleton ! she does not know what 
to do with the bird ! Instead of ordering a handsome dress, 
a fine shawl, she takes a bird. Who knows what she will 
do with it ! " " Silence ! " she says, " it pleases me." The 
father went, and on his return brought the dress, hat, and 
shawl for the two sisters, and the little bird for Cinderella. 
The father was employed at the court, and one day the king 
said to him : " I am going to give three balls ; if you want 
to bring your daughters, do so ; they will amuse themselves 
a little." "As you wish," he replies, "thanks!" and ac- 
cepts. He went home and said : " What do you think, 
girls ? His Majesty wishes you to attend his ball." " There, 



FAIRY TALES. 43 

you see, Cinderella, if you had only asked for a handsome 
dress ! This evening we are going to the ball." She re- 
plied : " It matters nothing to me ! You go ; I am not com- 
ing." In the evening, when the time came, they adorned 
themselves, saying to Cinderella : " Come along, there will 
be room for you, too." "I don't want to go; you go; I 
don't want to." "But," said their father, "let us go, let us 
go ! Dress and come along ; let her stay." When they had 
gone, she went to the bird and said : " O Bird Verdelio, 
make me more beautiful than I am ! " She became clothed 
in a sea-green dress, with so many diamonds that it blinded 
you to behold her. The bird made ready two purses of 
money, and said to her : " Take these two purses, enter 
your carriage, and away ! " She set out for the ball, and left 
the bird Verdelio at home. She entered the ball-room. 
Scarcely had the gentlemen seen this beautiful lady (she 
dazzled them on all sides), when the king, just think of it, 
began to dance with her the whole evening. After he had 
danced with her all the evening, his Majesty stopped, and 
she stood by her sisters. While she was at her sisters' 
side, she drew out her handkerchief, and a bracelet fell out. 
"Oh, Signora," said the eldest sister, "you have dropped 
this." " Keep it for yourself," she said. " Oh, if Cinder- 
ella were only here, who knows what might not have hap- 
pened to her ? " The king had given orders that when 
this lady went away they should find out where she lived. 
After she had remained a little, she left the ball. You can 
imagine whether the servants were on the lookout ! She 
entered her carriage and away! She perceives that she 
is followed, takes the money and begins to throw it out of 
the window of the carriage. The greedy servants, I tell 
you, seeing all that money, thought no more of her, but 
stopped to pick up the money. She returned home and 
went up-stairs. " O Bird Verdelio, make me homelier than 
I am ! " You ought to see how ugly, how horrid, she be- 
came, all ashes. When the sisters returned, they cried : 
" Cin-der-ella ! " " Oh, leave her alone," said her father ; 
" she is asleep now, leave her alone ! " But they went up 



44 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

and showed her the large and beautiful bracelet. " Do 
you see, you simpleton ? You might have had it." " It 
matters nothing to me." Their father said : " Let us go to 
supper, you little geese." 

Let us return to the king, who was awaiting his ser- 
vants, who had not the courage to appear, but kept away. 
He calls them. " How did the matter go ? " They fall at 
his feet. " Thus and thus ! She threw out so much 
money ! " " Wretches, you are nothing else," he said, 
" were you afraid of not being rewarded ? Well ! to-morrow 
evening, attention, under pain of death." The next even- 
ing the usual ball. The sisters say : " Will you come this 
evening, Cinderella ? " " Oh," she says, " don't bother me ! 
I don't want to go." Their father cries out to them : 
" How- troublesome you are ! Let her alone ! " So they 
began to adorn themselves more handsomely than the 
former evening, and departed. " Good-by, Cinderella ! " 
When they had gone, Cinderella went to the bird and said : 
" Little Bird Verdelio, make me more beautiful than I am !" 
Then she became clothed in sea-green, embroidered with 
all the fish of the sea, mingled with diamonds more than 
you could believe. The bird said : " Take these two bags 
of sand, and when you are followed, throw it out, and so 
they will be blinded." She entered her carriage and set 
out for the ball. As soon as his Majesty saw her he began 
to dance with her and danced as long as he could. After 
he had danced as long as he could (she did not grow weary, 
but he did), she placed herself near her sisters, drew out 
her handkerchief, and there fell out a beautiful necklace all 
made of coal. The second sister said : " Signora, you have 
dropped this." She replied: "Keep it for yourself." "If 
Cinderella were here, who knows what might not happen 
to her ! To-morrow she must come ! " After a while she 
leaves the ball. The servants (just think, under pain of 
death !) were all on the alert, and followed her. She began 
to throw out all the sand, and they were blinded. She 
went home, dismounted, and went up-stairs. "Little Bird 
Verdelio, make me homelier than I am ! " She became 



FAIRY TALES. 45 

frightfully homely. When her sisters returned they began 
from below : " Cin-der-ella ! if you only knew what that 
lady gave us ! " " It matters nothing to me ! " " But to- 
morrow evening you must go ! " " Yes, yes ! you would 
have had it ! " Their father says : " Let us go to supper 
and let her alone ; you are really silly ! " 

Let us return to his Majesty, who was waiting for his. 
servants to learn where she lived. Instead of that they were 
all brought back blinded, and had to be accompanied. 
" Rogue ! " he exclaimed, " either this lady is some fairy or 
she must have some fairy who protects her." 

The next day the sisters began : " Cinderella, you must 
go this evening ! Listen ; it is the last evening ; you must 
come." The father : " Oh let her alone ! you are always 
teasing her ! " Then they went away and began to pre- 
pare for the ball. When they were all prepared, they went 
to the ball with their father. When they had departed, 
Cinderella went to the bird : " Little Bird Verdelio, make 
me more beautiful than I am ! " Then she was dressed in 
all the colors of the heavens ; all the comets, the stars, and 
moon on her dress, and the sun on her brow. She enters 
the ball-room. Who could look at her ! for the sun alone they 
lower their eyes, and are all blinded. His Majesty began 
to dance, but he could not look at her, because she dazzled 
him. He had already given orders to his servants to be on 
the lookout, under pain of death ; not to go on foot, but to 
mount their horses that evening. After she had danced 
longer than on the previous evenings she placed herself by 
her father's side, drew out her handkerchief, and there fell 
out a snuff-box of gold, full of money. " Signora, you have 
dropped this snuff-box." " Keep it for yourself ! " Imag- 
ine that man : he opens it and sees it full of money. What 
joy ! After she had remained a time she went home as 
usual. The servants followed her on horseback, quickly ; 
at a distance from the carriage ; but on horseback that was 
not much trouble. She perceived that she had not pre- 
pared anything to throw that evening. " Oh ! " she cried, 
" what shall I do ? " She left the carriage quickly, and in 



46 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

her haste lost one of her slippers. The servants picked it 
up, took the number of the house, and went away. Cin- 
derella went up-stairs and said : " Little Bird Verdelio, make 
me more homely than I am ! " The bird does not answer. 
After she had repeated it three or four times, it answered : 
" Rogue ! I ought not to make you more homely, but . . ." 
and she became homely and the bird continued : " What 
are you going to do now ? You are discovered." She be- 
gan to weep in earnest. When her sisters returned, they 
cried : " Cin-der-ella ! " You can imagine that she did not 
answer them this evening. " See what a beautiful snuff- 
box. If you had gone you might have had it." " I do not 
care ! Go away ! " Then their father called them to sup- 
per. 

Let us now turn to the servants who went back with the 
slipper and the number of the house. " To-morrow," said 
his Majesty, " as soon as it is day, go to that house, take a 
carriage, and bring that lady to the palace." The servants 
took the slipper and went away. The next morning they 
knocked at the door. Cinderella's father looked out and 
exclaimed : " Oh, Heavens ! it is his Majesty's carriage ; 
what does it mean ? " They open the door and the ser- 
vants ascend. " What do you want of me ? " asked the 
father. "How many daughters have you?" "Two." 
"Well, show them to us." The father made them come in 
there. " Sit down," they said to one of them. They tried 
the slipper on her ; it was ten times too large for her. The 
other one sat down ; it was too small for her. " But tell 
me, good man, have you no other daughters ? Take care 
to tell the truth ! because his Majesty wishes it, under pain 
of death ! " " Gentlemen, there is another one, but I do 
not mention it. She is all in the ashes, the coals ; if you 
should see her! I do not call her my daughter from 
shame." " We have not come for beauty, or for finery ; we 
want to see the girl ! " 

Her sisters began to call her : " Cin-der-ella ! " but she 
did not answer. After a time she said : " What is the mat- 
ter ? " " You must come down ! there are some gentlemen 



FAIRY TALES. 47 

here who wish to see you." " I don't want to come." " But 
you must come, you see ! " " Very well ; tell them I will 
come in a moment." She went to the little bird : " Ah 
little Bird Verclelio, make me more beautiful than I am ! " 
Then she was dressed as she had been the last evening, 
with the sun, and moon, and stars, and in addition, great 
chains all of gold everywhere about her. The bird said : 
" Take me away with you ! Put me in your bosom ! " She 
puts the bird in her bosom and begins to descend the stairs. 
" Do you hear her ? " said the father, " do you hear her ? 
She is dragging with her the chains from the chimney- 
corner. You can imagine how frightful she will look ! " 
When she reached the last step, and they saw her, " Ah ! " 
they exclaimed, and recognized the lady of the ball. You 
can imagine how her father and sisters were vexed. They 
made her sit down, and tried on the slipper, and it fitted 
her. Then they made her enter the carriage, and took her to 
his Majesty, who recognized the lady of the other evenings. 
And you can imagine that, all in love as he was, he said to 
her : " Will you really be my wife ? " You may believe she 
consents. She sends for her father and sisters, and makes 
them all come to the palace. They celebrate the marriage. 
Imagine what fine festivals were given at this wedding ! 
The servants who had discovered where Cinderella lived 
were promoted to the highest positions in the palace as a 
reward. 16 

In the second class of stories alluded to above, the hero- 
ine flees in disguise from her home to avoid a marriage 
with her father or brother. The remainder of the story re- 
sembles Cinderella : the heroine reveals herself from time 
to time in her true form, and finally throws off her disguise. 
The following story, which illustrates this class, is from the 
province of Vicenza (Corazzini, p. 484), and is entitled : 



48 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

X. FAIR MARIA WOOD. 

There was once a husband and wife who had but one 
child, a daughter. Now it happened that the wife fell ill 
and was at the point of death. Before dying she called her 
husband, and said to him, weeping : " I am dying ; you are 
still young ; if you ever wish to marry again, be mindful to 
choose a wife whom my wedding ring fits ; and if you cannot 
find a lady whom it fits well, do not marry." Her husband 
promised that he would do so. When she was dead he 
took off her wedding ring and kept it until he desired to 
marry again. Then he sought for some one to please him. 
He went from one to another, but the ring fitted no one. 
He tried so many but in vain. One day he thought of 
calling his daughter, and trying the ring on her to see 
whether it fitted her. The daughter said : " It is useless, 
dear father ; you cannot marry me, because you are my 
father." He did not heed her, put the ring on her ringer, 
and saw that it fitted her well, and wanted to marry his 
daughter nolens volens. She did not oppose him, but con- 
sented. The day of the wedding, he asked her what she 
wanted. She said that she wished four silk dresses, the 
most beautiful that could be seen. He, who was a gentle- 
man, gratified her wish and took her the four dresses, one 
handsomer than the other, and all the handsomest that had 
ever been seen. " Now, what else do you want ? " said he. 
" I want another dress, made of wood, so that I can conceal 
myself in it." And at once he had this wooden dress made. 
She was well pleased. She waited one day until her hus- 
band was out of sight, put on the wooden dress, and under 
it the four silk dresses, and went away to a certain river not 
far off, and threw herself in it. Instead of sinking and 
drowning, she floated, for the wooden dress kept her up. 

The water carried her a long way, when she saw on the 
bank a gentleman, and began to cry : " Who wants the fair 
Maria Wood ? " That gentleman who saw her on the water, 
and whom she addressed, called her and she came to the 
bank and saluted him. " How is it that you are thus 



FAIRY TALES. 49 

dressed in wood, and come floating on the water without 
drowning ? " She told him that she was a poor girl who 
had only that dress of wood, and that she wanted to go out 
to service. " What can you do ? " " I can do all that is 
needed in a house, and if you would only take me for a ser- 
vant you would be satisfied." 

He took her to his house, where his mother was, and told 
her all that had happened, saying : " If you, dear mother, 
will take her as a servant, we can try her." In short, 
she took her and was pleased with this woman dressed in 
wood. 

It happened that there were balls at that place which the 
best ladies and gentlemen attended. The gentleman who 
had the servant dressed in wood prepared to go to the ball, 
and after he had departed, the servant said to his mother : 
" Do me this kindness, mistress : let me go to the ball too, 
for I have never seen any dancing." " What, you wish to 
go to the ball so badly dressed that they would drive you 
away as soon as they saw you ! " The servant was silent, 
and when the mistress was in bed, dressed herself in one 
of her silk dresses and became the most beautiful woman 
that was ever seen. She went to the ball, and it seemed as 
if the sun had entered the room ; all were dazzled. She 
sat down near her master, who asked her to dance, and 
would dance with no one but her. She pleased him so 
much that he fell in love with her. He asked her who she 
was and where she came from. She replied that she came 
from a distance, but told him nothing more. 

At a certain hour, without any one perceiving it, she went 
out and disappeared. She returned home and put on her 
wooden dress again. In the morning the master returned 
from the ball, and said to his mother : " Oh ! if you had 
only seen what a beautiful lady there was at the ball ! 
She appeared like the sun, she was so beautiful and well 
dressed. She sat down near me, and would not dance 
with any one but me." His mother then said : " Did you 
not ask her who she was and where she came from ? " 
" She would only tell me that she came from a distance ; 
4 



5<D ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

but I thought I should die ; I wish to go again this even- 
ing." The servant heard all this dialogue, but kept silent, 
pretending that the matter did not concern her. 

In the evening he prepared himself again for the ball, 
and the servant said to him : " Master, yesterday evening 
I asked your mamma to let me, too, go to the ball, for I 
have never seen dancing, but she would not ; will you have 
the kindness to let me go this evening ? " " Be still, you 
ugly creature, the ball is no place for you ! " " Do me this 
favor," she said, weeping, " I will stand out of doors, or 
under a bench, or in a corner so no one shall see me ; but 
let me go ! " He grew angry then, and took a stick and 
began to beat the poor servant. She wept and remained 
silent. 

After he had gone, she waited until his mother was in 
bed, and put on a dress finer than the first, and so rich as 
to astonish, and away to the ball ! When she arrived all 
began to gaze at her, for they had never seen anything 
more beautiful. All the handsomest young men surround 
her and ask her to dance ; but she would have nothing to 
do with any one but her master. He again asked her who 
she was, and she said she would tell him later. They danced 
and danced, and all at once she disappeared. Her master 
ran here and there, asked one and another, but no one 
could tell him where she had gone. He returned home 
and told his mother all that had passed. She said to him : 
" Do you know what you must do ? Take this diamond 
ring, and when she dances with you give it to her ; and if 
she takes it, it is a sign that she loves you." She gave 
him the ring. The servant listened, saw everything, and 
was silent. 

In the evening the master prepared for the ball and the 
servant again asked him to take her, and again he beat 
her. He went to the ball, and after midnight, as before, 
the beautiful lady returned more beautiful than before, and 
as usual would dance only with her master. At the right 
moment he took out the diamond ring, and asked her if 
she would accept it. She took it and thanked him, and he 



FAIRY TALES. 5 1 

was happy and satisfied. Afterward he asked her again 
who she was and where from. She said that she was of 
that country 

That when they speak of going to a ball, 

They are beaten on the head ; 

.and said no more. At the usual hour she stopped dancing 
and departed. He ran after her, but she went like the, 
wind, and reached home without his finding out where she 
went. But he ran so in all directions, and was in such suf- 
fering, that when he reached home he was obliged to go to 
bed more dead than alive. Then he fell ill and grew worse 
every day, so that all said he would die. He did nothing 
but ask his mother and every one if they knew anything of 
that lady, and that he would die if he did not see her. The 
servant heard everything ; and one day, when he was very 
ill, what did she think of ? She waited until her mistress' 
eye was turned, and dropped the diamond ring in the broth 
her master was to eat. No one saw her, and his mother 
took him the broth. He began to eat it, when he felt 
something hard, saw something shine, and took it out. . . . 
You can imagine how he looked at it and recognized the 
diamond ring ! They thought he would go mad. He 
asked his mother if that was the ring and she swore that 
it was, and all happy, she said that now he would see her 
again. 

Meanwhile the servant went to her room, took off her 
wooden dress, and put on one all of silk, so that she ap- 
peared a beauty, and went to the room of the sick man. 
His mother saw her and began to cry : " Here she is ; here 
she is ! " She went in and saluted him, smiling, and he was 
so beside himself that he became well at once. He asked 
her to tell him her story, — who she was, where she came 
from, how she came, and how she knew that he was ill. She 
replied : " I am the woman dressed in wood who was your 
servant. It is not true that I was a poor girl, but I had that 
dress to conceal myself in, for underneath it I was the same 
that I am now. I am a lady ; and although you treated me 
so badly when I asked to go to the ball, I saw that you loved 



52 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

me, and now I have come to save you from death." You 
can believe that they stayed to hear her story. They were 
married and have always been happy and still are. 17 

In the various stories thus far mentioned which involve 
the family relations, we have had examples of treachery on, 
the part of brothers, ill-treatment of step-children, etc. It 
remains now to notice the trait of treachery on the part of 
sister or mother towards brother or son. The formula as 
gjven by Hahn (No. 19) is as follows : The hero, who is 
fleeing with his sister (or mother), overcomes a number of 
dragons or giants. The only survivor makes love to the 
sister (or mother), and causes her, for fear of discovery, to 
send her brother, in order to destroy him, on dangerous ad- 
ventures, under the pretence of obtaining a cure for her ill- 
ness. The hero survives the dangers, discovers the decep- 
tion, and punishes the guilty ones. Traces of this formula 
are found in several Italian stories, 18 but it constitutes only 
two entire stories : one in Pitre (No. 71) the other in Com- 
paretti (No. 54, "The Golden Hair," from Monferrato, Pied- 
mont). The latter is in substance as follows : A king with 
three sons marries again in his old age. The youngest 
son falls in love with his step-mother and the jealous father 
tries to poison her. The son and wife flee together, and fall 
in with some robbers whom they kill, and set at liberty a 
princess who has the gift of curing blindness and other dis- 
eases. They afterward find a cave containing rooms and 
all the necessaries of life, but see no one. They spend the 
night there, and the next morning the youth goes hunting ; 
and as soon as he has departed a giant appears and solicits 
the step-mother's love, saying that if she will marry him, 
she will always be healthy and never lose her youth. But 
first it will be necessary to remove from her step-son's 
head a golden hair, and then he will become so weak that 
he can be killed by a blow. She was unwilling at first, be- 
cause he had saved her life, but finally yielded. First she 
tried to get rid of him by pretending to be ill, and sending 
him for some water from a fountain near which was a lion. 



FAIRY TALES. 53 

He obtained the water safely. Then his step-mother, pre- 
tending to comb his hair, cut off the golden hair, and the 
giant dragged him by the feet fifty miles, and let him fall 
first in the bushes and then on the ground. From the 
wounds in his head he became blind, but recovered his 
sight by means of the princess mentioned in the first part 
of the story, whom he married. After his golden lock had ' 
grown out again he returned to the cave and killed the 
giant, punishing his step-mother by leaving her there with- 
out even looking at her. 

The story in Pitre (No. 71, "The Cyclops") is more de- 
tailed. A queen who has been unfaithful to her husband 
is put in confinement, gives birth to a son, and afterward, 
through his aid, escapes. They encounter some cyclops, a 
number of whom the son kills ; but one becomes secretly 
the mother's lover. To get rid of her son, she sends him 
for the water of a certain fountain, which he brings back 
safely. Finally the mother binds the son fast, under the 
pretence of playing a game, and delivers him to the cyclops, 
who kills him and cuts him into small bits, which he loads 
on his horse and turns him loose. The youth is, however, 
restored to life by the same water that he had brought 
back, and kills the cyclops and his mother, finally marrying 
the princess to whom he owes his life. 19 

In marked contrast to the above class is the one in which 
a number of brothers owe their deliverance from enchant- 
ment to the self-sacrifice of a sister. Generally the sister 
is the innocent cause of her brothers' transformation. They 
live far from home, and their sister is not aware for a long 
time of their existence. When she learns it she departs in 
search of them, finds them, and, after great risk to herself, 
delivers them. But two versions of this story have yet been 
published in Italy: one from Naples (Pent. IV. 8), the other 
from Bologna (Coronedi-Berti, No. 19). The latter version 
we give at length. 



54 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

XL THE CURSE OF THE SEVEN CHILDREN. 

There was once a king and a queen who had six chil- 
dren, all sons. The queen was about to give birth to an- 
other child, and the king said that if it was not a daughter 
all seven children would be cursed. Now it happened 
that the king had to go away to war ; and before departing 
he said to the queen, " Listen. If you have a son, hang a 
lance out of the window ; if a daughter, a distaff ; so that I 
can see as soon as I arrive which it is." After the king had 
been gone a month, the queen gave birth to the most beau- 
tiful girl that was ever seen. Imagine how pleased the 
queen was at having a girl. She could scarcely contain her- 
self for joy, and immediately gave orders to hang the distaff 
out of the window ; but in the midst of the joyful confu- 
sion, a mistake was made, and they put out a lance. 
Shortly after, the king returned and saw the sign at the 
window, and cursed all his seven sons ; but when he en- 
tered the house and the servants crowded around him to 
congratulate him and tell him about his beautiful daughter, 
then the king was amazed and became very melancholy. 
He entered the queen's room and looked at the child, who 
seemed exactly like one of those wax dolls to be kept in a 
box ; then he looked about him and saw nothing of his 
sons, and his eyes filled with tears, for those poor youths 
had wandered out into the world. 

Meanwhile the girl grew, and when she was large she 
saw that her parents caressed her, but always with tears in 
their eyes. One day she said to her mother : " What is the 
matter with you, mother, that I always see you crying ? " 
Then the queen told her the story, and said that she was 
afraid that some day she would see her disappear too. 
When the girl heard how it was, what did she do ? One 
night she rose softly and left the palace, with the intention 
of going to find her brothers. She walked and walked, and 
at last met a little old man, who said to her : " Where are 
you going at this time of the night ? " She answered : " I am 
in search of my brothers." The old man said : " It will be 



FAIRY TALES. 55 

difficult to find them, for you must not speak for seven 
years, seven months, seven weeks, seven days, seven hours, 
and seven minutes." She said : •" I will try." Then she 
took a bit of paper which she found on the ground, wrote 
on it the day and the hour with a piece of charcoal, and 
left the old man and hastened on her way. After she had 
run a long time, she saw a light and went towards it, and • 
when she was near it, she saw that it was over the door of 
a palace where a king lived. She entered and sat down on 
the stairway, and fell asleep. The servants came later to 
put out the light, and saw the pretty girl asleep on the 
stone steps ; they awakened her, asking her what she was 
doing there. She began to make signs, asking them to 
give her a lodging. They understood her, and said they 
would ask the king. They returned shortly to tell her to 
enter, for the king wished to see her before she was shown to 
her room. When the king saw the beautiful girl, with hair 
like gold, flesh like milk and wine, teeth white as pearls, 
and little hands that an artist could not paint as beautiful 
as they were, he suddenly imagined that she must be the 
daughter of some lord, and gave orders that she should be 
treated with all possible respect. They showed her to a 
beautiful room ; then a maid came and undressed her and 
put her to bed. Next morning, Diana, for so she was 
called, arose, saw a frame with a piece of embroidery in it, 
and began to work at it. The king visited her, and asked 
if she needed anything, and she made signs that she did 
not. The king was so pleased with the young girl that he 
ended by falling in love with her, and after a year had 
passed he thought of marrying her. The queen-mother, 
who was an envious person, was not content with the match, 
because, said she, no one knows where she came from, and, 
besides, she is dumb, something that would make people 
wonder if a king should marry her. But the king was so ob- 
stinate that he married her ; and when his mother saw that 
there was no help, she pretended to be satisfied. Shortly 
after, the queen-mother put into the king's hands a letter 
which informed him of an imminent war, in which, if he 



56 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

did not take part, he would run the risk of losing his realm. 
The king went to the war, in fact, with great grief at leaving 
his wife ; and before departing, he commended her earnestly 
to his mother, who said : " Do not be anxious, my son, I shall 
do all that I can to make her happy." The king embraced 
his wife and mother, and departed. 

Scarcely had the king gone when the queen-mother sent 
for a mason, and made him build a wall near the kitchen- 
sink, so that it formed a sort of box. Now you must know 
that Diana expected soon to become a mother, and this 
afforded the queen-mother a pretext to write to her son that 
his wife had died in giving birth to a child. She took her 
and put her in the wall she had had built, where there was 
neither light nor air, and where the wicked woman hoped 
that she would die. But it was not so. The scullion went 
every day to wash the dishes at the sink near where poor 
Diana was buried alive. While attending to his business, 
he heard a lamentation, and listened to see where it could 
come from. He listened and listened, until at last he per- 
ceived that the voice came from the wall that had been 
newly built. What did he do then ? He made a hole in 
the wall, and saw that the queen was there. The scullion 
asked how she came there ; but she only made signs that 
she was about to give birth to a child. The poor scullion 
had his wife make a fine cushion, on which Diana reposed 
as well as she could, and gave birth to the most beautiful 
boy that could be seen. The scullion's wife went to see 
her every moment, and carried her broth, and cared for the 
child ; in short, this poor woman, as well as her husband, 
did everything she could to alleviate the poor queen, who 
tried to make them understand by signs what she needed. 
One day it came into Diana's head to look into her memo- 
randum book and see how long she still had to keep silent, 
and she saw that only two minutes yet remained. As soon 
as they had passed, she told the scullion all that had hap- 
pened. At that moment the king arrived, and the scullion 
drew the queen from out the hole, and showed her to the 
king. You can imagine how delighted he was to see again 



FAIRY TALES. 57 

his Diana, whom he believed to be dead. He embraced 
her, and kissed her and the child ; in short, such was his 
joy that it seemed as if he would go mad. Diana related 
everything to him : why she had left her home, and why 
she had played dumb so long, and finally how she had been 
treated by the queen-mother, and what she had suffered, and 
how kind those poor people had been to her. When he had 
heard all this, he said : " Leave the matter to me ; I will 
arrange it." 

The next day the king invited all the nobles and princes 
of his realm to a great banquet. Now it happened that in 
setting the tables the servants laid six plates besides the 
others ; and when the guests sat down, six handsome youths 
entered, who advanced and asked what should be given to a 
sister who had done so and so for her brothers. Then the 
king sprang up and said: "And I ask what shall be done to 
a mother who did so and so to her son's wife ? " and he ex- 
plained everything. One said: "Burn her alive." An- 
other: "Put. her in the pillory." Another: "Fry her in 
oil in the public square." This was agreed to. The youths 
had been informed by that same old man whom Diana had 
met, and who was a magician, where their sister was and 
what she had done for them. Then they made themselves 
known, and embraced Diana and their brother-in-law the 
king, and after the greatest joy, they all started off to see 
their parents. Imagine the satisfaction of the king and 
queen at seeing again all their seven children. They gave 
the warmest reception to the king, Diana's husband, and 
after they had spent some days together, Diana returned 
with her husband to their city. And all lived there after- 
ward in peace and contentment. 20 

We shall now turn our attention to another wide-spread 
story, which may be termed " The True Bride," although 
the Grimm story of that name is not a representative of it. 
One of the simplest versions is Grimm's " The Goose-Girl," 
in which a queen's daughter is betrothed to a king's son 
who lives far away. When the daughter grew up she was 



trf 



58 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

sent to the bridegroom, with a maid to wait upon her. On 
the journey the maid takes the place of the princess, who 
becomes a poor goose-girl. The true bride is of course dis- 
covered at last, and the false one duly punished. " The 
White and the Black Bride," of the same collection, is a 
more complicated version of the same theme. The first 
part is the story of two sisters (step-sisters) who receive 
different gifts from fairies, etc. ; the second part, that of the 
brother who paints his sister's portrait, which the king sees 
and desires to marry the original. The sister is sent for, 
but on the journey the ugly step-sister pushes the bride 
into a river or the sea, and takes her place. The true bride is 
changed into a swan (or otherwise miraculously preserved), 
and at last resumes her lawful place. In the above stories the 
substitution of the false bride is the main incident in the 
story ; but there are many other tales in which the same 
incident occurs, but it is subordinate to the others. Ex- 
amples of this latter class will be given as soon as we reach 
the story of " The Forgotten Bride." 

The first class mentioned is represented in Italy by two 
versions also. The first is composed of the two traits : 
" Two Sisters " and " True Bride " ; the second, of " Brother 
who shows beautiful sister's portrait to king." This second 
version sometimes shows traces of the first. It is with this 
second version that we now have to do, as in it only is 
the substitution of the false bride the main incident. Ex- 
amples of the first version will be found in the notes. 21 
The story we have selected to illustrate the second version 
of this story is from Florence (Nov. fior. p. 314), and is en- 
titled : 

XII. ORAGGIO AND BIANCHINETTA. 

There was once a lady who had two children : the boy 
was called Oraggio, the girl, Bianchinetta. By misfortunes 
they were reduced from great wealth to poverty. It was 
decided that Oraggio should go out to service, and indeed 
he found a situation as valet de chambre to a prince. After 
a time the prince, satisfied with his service, changed it, and 



FAIRY TALES. 59 

set him to work cleaning the pictures in his gallery. Among 
the various paintings was one of a very beautiful lady, which 
was constantly Oraggio's admiration. The prince often 
surprised him admiring the portrait. One day he asked him 
why he spent so much time before that picture. Oraggio 
replied that it was the very image of his sister, and having 
been away from her some time, he felt the need of seeing 
her again. The prince answered that he did not believe that 
picture resembled his sister, because he had a search made, 
and it had not been possible to find any lady like the por- 
trait. He added : " Have her come here, and if she is as 
beautiful as you say, I will make her my wife." 

Oraggio wrote at once to Bianchinetta, who immediately 
set out on her journey. Oraggio went to the harbor to 
await her, and when he perceived the ship at a distance, he 
called out at intervals : " Mariners of the high sea, guard 
my sister Bianchina, so that the sun shall not brown her." 
Now, on the ship where Bianchinetta was, was also another 
young girl with her mother, both very homely. When they 
were near the harbor, the daughter gave Bianchinetta a 
blow, and pushed her into the sea. When they landed, 
Oraggio could not recognize his sister ; and that homely 
girl presented herself, saying that the sun had made her so 
dark that she could no longer be recognized. The prince 
was surprised at seeing such a homely woman, and reproved 
Oraggio, removing him from his position and setting him 
to watch the geese. Every day he led the geese to the sea, 
and every day Bianchinetta came forth and adorned them 
with tassels of various colors. When the geese returned 
home, they said : — 

" Cro ! cro ! 
From the sea we come, 
We feed on gold and pearls. 
Oraggio's sister is fair, 
She is fair as the sun ; 
She would suit our master well." 

The prince asked Oraggio how the geese came to repeat 
those words everyday. He told him that his sister, thrown 



r~i 



60 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

into the sea, had been seized by a fish, which had taken her 
to a beautiful palace under the water, where she was in 
chains. But that, attached to a long chain, she was permit- 
ted to come to the shore when he drove the geese there. 
The prince said : " If what you relate is true, ask her what 
is required to liberate her from that prison." 

The next day Oraggio asked Bianchinetta how it would 
be possible to take her from there and conduct her to the 
prince. She replied : " It is impossible to take me from 
here. At least, the monster always says to me : ' It would 
require a sword that cuts like a hundred, and a horse that 
runs like the wind.' It is almost impossible to find these 
two things. You see, therefore, it is my fate to remain 
here always." Oraggio returned to the palace, and in- 
formed the prince of his sister's answer. The latter made 
every effort, and succeeded in finding the horse that ran 
like the wind, and the sword that cut like a hundred. They 
went to the sea, found Bianchinetta, who was awaiting 
them. She led them to her palace. With the sword the 
chain was cut. She mounted the horse, and thus was able 
to escape. When they reached the palace the prince found 
her as beautiful as the portrait Oraggio was always gazing 
at, and married her. The other homely one was burned in 
the public square, with the accustomed pitch-shirt ; and 
they lived content and happy. 22 

We have already encountered the trait of " Thankful An- 
imals," who assist the hero in return for kindness he has 
shown them. What is merely an incident in the stories 
above alluded to constitutes the main feature of a class of 
stories which may be termed "Animal Brothers-in-law." 
The usual formula in these stories is as follows : Three 
princes, transformed into animals, marry the hero's sisters. 
The hero visits them in turn ; they assist him in the per- 
formance of difficult tasks, and are by him freed from their 
enchantment. This formula varies, of course. Sometimes 
there are but two sisters, and the brothers-in-law are freed 
from their enchantment in some other way than by the 



FAIRY TALES. 6 1 

hero. A good specimen of this class is from the south of 
Italy, Basilicata (Comparetti, No. 20), and is called : 

XIII. THE FAIR FIORITA. 

There was once a king who had four children : three 
daughters and a son, who was the heir to the throne. One' 
day the king said to the prince : " My son, I have decided 
to marry your three sisters to the first persons who pass our 
palace at noon." At that time there first passed a swine- 
herd, then a huntsman, and finally a grave-digger. The king 
had them all three summoned to his presence, and told the 
swine-herd that he wished to give him his oldest daughter 
for a wife, the second to the huntsman, and the third to the 
grave-digger. Those poor creatures thought they were 
dreaming. But they saw that the king spoke seriously, or 
rather commanded. Then, all confused, but well pleased, 
they said : " Let your Majesty's will be done." The prince, 
who loved his youngest sister dearly, was deeply grieved 
that she should become a grave-digger's wife. He begged 
the king not to make this match, but the king would not 
listen to him. 

The prince, grieved at his father's caprice, would not be 
present at his sisters' wedding, but took a walk in the gar- 
den at the foot of the palace. Now, while the priest in the 
marriage hall was blessing the three brides, the garden sud- 
denly bloomed with the fairest flowers, and there came 
forth from a white cloud a voice which said : " Happy he 
who shall have a kiss from the lips of the fair Fiorita ! " 
The prince trembled so that he could hardly stand ; and 
afterward, leaning against an olive-tree, he began to weep 
for the sisters he had lost, and remained buried in thought 
many hours. Then he started, as if awakening from a 
dream, and said to himself : " I must flee from my father's 
house. I will wander about the world, and will not rest 
until I have a kiss from the lips of the fair Fiorita." 

He travelled over land and sea, over mountains and 
plains, and found no living soul that could give him word of 



62 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the fair Fiorita. Three years had elapsed, when one day, 
leaving a wood and journeying through a beautiful plain, he 
arrived at a palace before which was a fountain, and drew 
near to drink. A child two years old, who was playing by 
the fountain, seeing him approach, began to cry and call its 
mother. The mother, when she saw the prince, ran to 
meet him, embraced him, and kissed him, crying : " Wel- 
come, welcome, my brother ! " The prince at first did not 
recognize her ; but looking at her closely in the face, he 
saw that it was his oldest sister, and embracing her in turn, 
exclaimed : " How glad I am to see you, my sister ! " and 
they rejoiced greatly. The sister invited him to enter the 
palace, which was hers, and led him to her husband, who 
was much pleased to see him, and all three overwhelmed 
with caresses the child who, by calling his mother, had been 
the cause of all that joy. 

The prince then asked about his other two sisters, and 
his brother-in-law replied that they were well, and lived in a 
lordly way with their husbands. The prince was surprised, 
and his brother-in-law added that the fortunes of the three 
husbands of his sisters had changed since they had been 
enchanted by a magician. "And cannot I see my other 
two sisters ? " asked the prince. The brother-in-law re- 
plied : " Direct your journey towards sunrise. After a day 
you will find your second sister ; after two days, the third." 
" But I must seek the way to the fair Fiorita, and I do not 
know whether it is towards sunrise or sunset." " It is pre- 
cisely towards sunrise ; and you are doubly fortunate : first, 
because you will see your two sisters again ; secondly, be- 
cause from the last you can receive information about the 
fair Fiorita. But before departing I wish to give you a re- 
membrance. Take these hog's bristles. The first time 
you encounter any danger from which you cannot extricate 
yourself, throw them on the ground, and I will free you 
from the danger." The prince took the bristles, and after 
he had thanked his brother-in-law, resumed his journey. 

The next day he arrived at the palace of his second sis- 
ter ; was received there also with great joy, and this 



FAIRY TALES. 63 

brother-in-law, too, wished to give him a memento before 
he departed ; and because he had been a huntsman, pre- 
sented him with a bunch of birds' feathers, telling him the 
same thing that the other brother-in-law had. He thanked 
him and departed. The third day he came to his young- 
est sister's, who, seeing the brother who had always loved 
her more dearly than his other sisters, welcomed him more 
warmly, as did also her husband. The latter gave him a 
little human bone, giving him the same advice as the other 
brothers-in-law had. His sister then told him that the 
fair Fiorita lived a day's journey from there, and that he 
could learn more about her from an old woman who was in- 
debted to her, and to whom she sent him. 

As soon as the prince arrived at the fair Fiorita's coun- 
try (she was the king's daughter), he went to the old 
woman. When she heard that he was the brother of the 
one who had been so kind to her, she received him like a 
son. Fortunately, the old woman's house was exactly op- 
posite that side of the king's palace where there was a 
window to which the fair Fiorita came every day at dawn. 
Now one morning at that hour she appeared at the window, 
scarcely covered by a white veil. When the prince saw 
that flower of beauty, he was so agitated that he would have 
fallen had not the old woman supported him. The old 
woman attempted to dissuade him from the idea of marry- 
ing the fair Fiorita, saying that the king would give his 
daughter only to him who should discover a hidden place, 
and that he killed him who could not find it, and that al- 
ready many princes had lost their lives for her. But, not- 
withstanding, he answered that he should die if he could 
not obtain possession of the fair Fiorita. Having learned 
afterward frdm the ^old woman that the king bought for his 
daughter the rarest musical instruments, hear what he de- 
vised ! He went to a cymbal-maker and said : " I want a 
cymbal that will play three tunes, and each tune to last a 
day, and to be made in such a way that a man can be hidden 
inside of it ; and I will pay you a thousand ducats for it. 
When it is finished I will get in it ; and you must go and 



64 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

play it in front of the king's palace ; and if the king wishes 
to buy it you will sell it to him on condition that you shall 
take it every three days to fix it." The cymbal-maker 
consented, and did all that the prince commanded him. 
The king purchased the cymbal with the maker's condition, 
had it carried to his daughter's bed-chamber, and said to 
her : " See, my daughter, I do not wish you to lack any 
diversion, even when you are in bed and cannot sleep." 

Next to the fair Fiorita's chamber slept her maids of 
honor. In the night when all were asleep, the prince, who 
was hidden in the cymbal, came out and called : " Fair 
Fiorita ! fair Fiorita! " She awoke in a fright and cried : 
" Come, my maids of honor, I hear some one calling me." 
The maids of honor came quickly, but found no one, for 
the prince hid himself suddenly in the instrument. The 
same thing happened twice, and the maids coming and find- 
ing no one, the fair Fiorita said : " Well, it must be my 
fancy. If I call you again, do not come, I command you." 
The prince, within the cymbal, heard this. Scarcely had 
the maids of honor fallen asleep again, when the prince 
approached the fair one's bed and said : " Fair Fiorita, give 
me, I beg you, a kiss from your lips ; if you do not, I shall 
die." She, all trembling, called her maids ; but obeying her 
command, they did not come. Then she said to the 
prince : " You are fortunate and have won. Draw near." 
And she gave him the kiss, and on the prince's lips there re- 
mained a beautiful rose. "Take this rose," she said, "and 
keep it on your heart, for it will bring you good luck." 
The prince placed it on his heart, and then told his fair one 
all his history from the time he had left his father's palace 
until he had introduced himself into her chamber by the 
trick with the cymbal. The fair Fiorita was well pleased, 
and said that she would willingly marry him ; but to suc- 
ceed, he must perform many difficult tasks which the king 
would lay upon him. First he must discover the way to 
a hiding-place where the king had concealed her with a 
hundred damsels ; then he must recognize her among the 
hundred damsels, all dressed alike and veiled. " But," she 



• 



FAIRY TALES. 65 

said, " you need not trouble yourself about these difficulties, 
for the rose you have taken from my lips, and which you 
will always wear over your heart, will draw you like the 
loadstone, first to the hiding-place, and afterward to my 
arms. But the king will set you other tasks, and perhaps 
terrible ones. These you must think of yourself. Let us 
leave it to God and fortune." 

The prince went at once to the king, and asked for the 
fair Fiorita's hand. The king did not refuse it, but made 
the same conditions that the princess had told him of. 
He consented, and by the help of the rose quickly per- 
formed the first tasks. " Bravo ! " exclaimed the king, when 
the prince recognized the fair Fiorita among the other 
damsels ; "but this is not enough." Then he shut him up 
in a large room all full of fruit, and commanded him, under 
pain of death, to eat it all up in a day. The prince was in 
despair, but fortunately he remembered the hog's bristles 
and the advice which his first brother-in-law had given him. 
He threw the bristles on the ground, and there suddenly 
came forth a great herd of swine which ate up all the 
fruit and then disappeared. This task was accomplished. 
But the king proposed another. He wished the prince to 
retire with his bride, and cause her to fall asleep at the 
singing of the birds which are the sweetest to hear and the 
most beautiful to see. The prince remembered the bunch 
of feathers given him by his brother-in-law the huntsman, 
and threw them on the ground. Suddenly there appeared 
the most beautiful birds in the world, and sang so sweetly 
that the king himself fell asleep. But a servant awakened 
him at once, because he had commanded it, and he said to 
the prince and his daughter : " Now you can enjoy your 
love at liberty. But to-morrow, on arising, you must pre- 
sent me with a child two years old, who can speak and call 
you by name. If not, you will both be killed." " Now let 
us retire, my dear wife," said the prince to the fair Fiorita. 
" Between now and to-morrow some saint will aid us." The 
next morning the prince remembered the bone which his 
brother-in-law the grave-digger had given him. He rose 
S 



66 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES, 

and threw it to the ground, and lo ! a beautiful child, with a 
golden apple in his right hand, who cried papa and mamma. 
The king entered the room, and the child ran to meet him, 
and wished to put the golden apple on the crown which 
the king wore. The king then kissed the child, blessed the 
pair, and taking the crown from his head, put it on his son- 
in-law's, saying : " This is now yours." Then they gave a 
great feast at the court for the wedding, and they invited 
the prince's three sisters, with their husbands. And the 
prince's father, receiving such good news of the son whom 
he believed lost, hastened to embrace him, and gave him 
his crown too. So the prince and the fair Fiorita became 
king and queen of two realms, and from that time on were 
always happy. 23 

In the above story the wife is won by the performance of 
difficult tasks by the suitor. A somewhat similar class of 
stories is the one in which the bride is won by the solution 
of a riddle. The riddle, or difficult question, is either pro- 
posed by the bride herself, and the suitor who fails to an- 
swer it is killed, or the suitor is obliged to propose one him- 
self, and if the bride fails to solve it, she marries him ; if 
she succeeds, the suitor is killed. The first of the above two 
forms is found in three Italian stories, two of which resem- 
ble each other quite closely. 

In the Pentamerone (I. 5, "The Flea"), the King of High- 
Hill, " being bitten by a flea, caught him by a wonderful 
feat of dexterity ; and seeing how handsome and stately he 
was,, he could not in conscience pass sentence on him upon 
the bed of his nail. So he put him into a bottle, and feed- 
ing him every day with the blood of his own arm, the little 
beast grew at such a rate that at the end of seven months 
it was necessary to shift his quarters, for he was grown big- 
ger than a sheep. When the king saw this, he had him 
flayed, and the skin dressed. Then he issued a proclama- 
tion, that whoever could tell to what animal this skin had 
belonged should have his daughter to wife." The question 
is answered by an ogre, to whom the king gives his daugh- 



FAIRY TALES. 6j 

ter rather than break his promise. The hapless wife is 
afterward rescued by an old woman's seven sons, who pos- 
sess remarkable gifts. In Gonz. (No. 22, "The Robber who 
had a Witch's Head "), a king with three daughters fattens a 
louse and nails its skin over the door as in the Pentamerone. 
A robber, who had a witch's head that told him everything 
he wanted to know, answers the question, and receives in 
marriage the king's eldest daughter. He takes her home 
and leaves her alone for a time, and on his return learns 
from the witch's head that his wife has reviled him. He 
kills her and marries the second sister, whom he kills for 
the same reason, and marries the youngest. She is more 
discreet, and the witch's head can only praise her. One 
day she finds the head and throws it in the oven ; and the 
robber, whose life was in some way connected with it, died. 
The wife then anointed her sisters with a life-giving salve, 
and all three returned to their father's house, and afterward 
married three handsome princes. The third story, from 
the Tyrol (Schneller, No. 31, " The Devil's Wife"), is con- 
nected with the Bluebeard story which will be mentioned 
later. A king and queen had an only daughter, who was 
very pretty and fond of dress. One day she found a louse ; 
and as she did not know what kind of an animal it was, she 
ran to her mother and asked her. Her mother told her 
and said : " Shut the louse up in a box and feed it. As 
soon as it is very large, we will have a pair of gloves made 
of its skin ; these we will exhibit, and whoever of your 
suitors guesses from the skin of what animal they are made, 
shall be your husband." The successful suitor is no other 
than the Devil, who takes his wife home and forbids her to 
open a certain room. One day, while he is absent, she 
opens the door of the forbidden chamber, and sees from the 
flames and condemned souls who her husband is. She is 
so frightened that she becomes ill, but manages to send 
word to her father by means of a carrier-pigeon. The king 
sets out with many brave men to deliver her ; on the way 
he meets three men who possess wonderful gifts (far see- 
ing, sharp ear, great strength), and with their aid rescues 
his daughter. 



68 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

More frequently, however, this class of stories turns on a 
riddle proposed by the suitor himself, and which the bride 
is unable to solve. 

The following story, which illustrates the latter version, 
is from Istria (Ive, 1877, p. 13), and is entitled : 

XIV. BIERDE. 

Once upon a time there was a mother who had a son, 
who went to school. One day he came home and said to 
his mother : " Mother, I want to go and seek my fortune." 
She replied : " Ah, my son, are you mad ? Where do you 
want to seek it ? " " I want to wander about the world until 
I find it." Now he had a dog whose name was Bierde. 
He said : " To-morrow morning bake me some bread, put 
it into a bag, give me a pair of iron shoes, and I and Bierde 
will go and seek our fortune." His mother said : " No, 
my son, don't go, for I shall not see you again ! " And she 
wept him as dead. After she was quieted she said to him : 
" Well, if you will go, to-morrow I will bake you some 
bread, and I will make you a bread-cake." She made the 
bread-cake, and put some poison in it ; she put the bread 
and the bread-cake in the bag, and he went away. He 
walked and walked and walked until he felt hungry, and 
said to the dog : " Ah, poor Bierde, how tired you are, and 
how hungry, too ! Wait until we have gone a little farther, 
and then we will eat." He went on, tired as he was, and 
at last seated himself under a tree, with the dog near him. 
He said : " Oh, here we are ; now we will eat. Wait, 
Bierde; I will give you a piece of the bread-cake so that 
you, too, can eat." He broke off a piece of the cake, and 
gave it to him to eat. The dog was so hungry that he ate 
it greedily. After he had eaten it he took two or three 
turns, and fell dead on the ground, with his tongue stick- 
ing out. " Ah, poor Bierde ! " said his master. " You have 
been poisoned ! My mother has done it ! The wretch ! She 
has put poison in the cake in order to kill me ! " He kept 
weeping and saying : " Poor Bierde, you are dead, but you 



FAIRY TALES. 6$ 

have saved my life ! " While he was weeping three crows 
passed, alighted, and pecked at the tongue of the dog, and 
all three died. Then he said : " Well, well ! Bierde dead 
has killed three crows ! I will take them with me." So he 
took them and continued his journey. He saw at a dis- 
tance a large fire ; he approached and heard talking and 
singing, and beheld seven highwaymen, who had eaten a 
great many birds, arid who had a great deal of meat still 
left. He said to himself : " Poor me ! Now I shall have 
to die ; there is no escape ; they will certainly take me and 
kill me ! " Then he said : " Enough ; I will go ahead." As 
soon as they saw him they cried : " Stop ! Your money or 
your life ! " The poor fellow said : " Brothers, what would 
you have me give you ? Money I have not. I am very 
hungry. I have nothing but these three birds. If you want 
them I will give them to you." "Very well," they said; 
"eat and drink ; we will eat the birds." They took the birds, 
picked them, skinned them, roasted them over the coals, 
and said to the youth : " We will not give you any of these ; 
you can eat the others." They ate them, and all seven fell 
down dead. When the youth saw that they did not stir, 
but were dead, he said : " Well, well ! Bierde dead has killed 
three, and these three have killed seven ! " He rose and 
went away after he had made a good meal. On the way 
he felt hungry again, and sat down under a tree, and began 
to eat. When he got up he saw a beautiful canary-bird on 
the top of another tree. He took up a stone and threw at 
it. The bird flew away. Now, behind this tree was a hare, 
big with young, and it happened that the stone fell on it 
and killed it. The youth went to see where the stone fell, 
and when he saw the dead hare he said : " Well, well ! I 
threw it at the canary-bird and the stone killed the hare ! I 
will take it with me. If I had the fire that those robbers 
left I would cook it." He went on until he came to a 
church, in which he found a lighted lamp and a missal. So 
he skinned the bare, and made a fire with the missal, and 
roasted and ate the hare. Then he continued his journey 
until he came to the foot of a mountain, where the sea was. 



y 



r 



70 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

On the shore he saw two persons with a boat, who ferried 
over those who wished to reach the other shore, because 
one could not go on foot on account of the great dust, 
which was suffocating. The price for crossing was three 
soldi. The youth said to the owners of the bark : " How 
much do you want to set me down on the other bank ? " 
"Three soldi." "Take me across, brothers; I will give 
you two, for I have no more." They replied : " Two do not 
enter if there are not three!' He repeated his offer and they 
made the same answer. Then he said : " Very well. I will 
stay here." And he remained there. In a moment, how- 
ever, there came up a shower, and laid the dust, and he 
went on. He reached a city, and found it in great confu- 
sion. He asked : " What is the matter here, that there are 
so many people ? " They answered : " It is the governor's 
daughter, who guesses everything. He whose riddle she 
cannot guess is to marry her; but he whose riddle she 
guesses is put to death." He asked : " Could I, too, go 
there ? " " What, you go, who are a foolish boy ! So many 
students have abstained, and you, so ignorant, wish to go ! 
You will certainly go to your death ! " " Well," he said, 
" my mother told me that she would never see me again, so 
I will go." He presented himself to the governor and said : 
"Sir governor, I wish to go to your daughter and see 
whether she can guess what I have to tell her." "Do you 
wish," he replied, " to go to your death ? So many have 
lost their lives, do you, also, wish to lose yours?" He an- 
swered: "Let me go and try." He wished to go and see 
for himself. He entered the hall where the daughter was. 
The governor summoned many gentlemen to hear. When 
they were all there the governor again said that the youth 
should reflect that if she guessed what he had to say that 
he would lose his life. He replied that he had thought of 
that. The room was full of persons of talent, and the 
youth presented himself and said : — 

" Bierde dead has killed three." 
She said to herself : "How can it be that one dead 
should kill three ? " 



FAIRY TALES. J I 

" And three have killed seven." 

She said : " Here is nothing but dead and killed ; what 
shall I do ? " She was puzzled at once, and felt herself per- 
plexed. He continued : — 

" I threw where I saw, and reached where I did not expect to. 
I have eaten that which was born, and that which was not born. 
It was cooked with words. 
Two do not enter if there are not three; 
But the hard passes over the soft." 

When she heard this the governor's daughter could not 
answer. All the others were astonished likewise, and said 
that she must marry him. Then he told them all that had 
happened, and the marriage took place. 24 

We shall now direct our attention to a class of stories 
found in all lands, and which may, from one of its most im- 
portant episodes, be called " The Forgotten Bride." In the 
ordinary version, the hero, in consequence of some impre- 
cation, sets out in search of the heroine, who is either the 
daughter or in the custody of ogre or ogress. The hero, 
by the help of the heroine, performs difficult tasks imposed 
upon him by her father or mother, etc., and finally elopes 
with her. The pursuit of father or mother, etc., is avoided 
by magic obstacles raised in their way, or by transformations 
of the fugitives. The hero leaves his bride, to prepare his 
parents to receive her; but at a kiss, usually from his 
mother, he entirely forgets his bride until she recalls her- 
self to his memory, and they are both united. The trait of 
difficult tasks performed by the hero is sometimes omitted, 
as well as flight with magic obstacles or transformations. 
All the episodes of the above story, down to the forgetting 
bride at mother's kiss, are found in many stories ; notably 
in the class "True Bride," already mentioned. 

A Sicilian story (Pitre, No. 13) will best illustrate this 
class. It is entitled : 



72 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

XV. SNOW-WHITE-FIRE-RED. 

There was once a king and queen who had no son, and 
they were always making vows to obtain one ; and they 
promised that if they had a son, or even a daughter, they 
would maintain two fountains for seven years : one running 
wine, the other oil. After this vow the queen gave birth to 
a handsome boy. 

As soon as the child was born, the two fountains were 
erected, and everybody went and took oil and wine. At 
the end of seven years the fountains began to dry up. An 
ogress, wishing to collect the drops that still fell from the 
fountain, went there with a sponge and pitcher. She sopped 
up the drops with the sponge and then squeezed it in the 
pitcher. After she had worked so hard to fill this pitcher, 
the little son of the king, who was playing ball, from caprice 
threw a ball and broke the pitcher. When the old woman 
saw this, she said : " Listen. I can do nothing to you, for 
you are the king's son ; but I can bestow upon you an im- 
precation : May you be unable to marry until you find 
Snow-white-fire-red ! " The cunning child took a piece of 
paper and wrote down the old woman's words, put it away 
in a drawer, and said nothing about it. When he was 
eighteen the king and queen wished him to marry. Then 
he remembered the old woman's imprecation, took the piece 
of paper, and said : " Ah ! if I do not find Snow-white-fire- 
red I cannot marry ! " When it seemed fit, he took leave 
of his father and mother, and began his journey entirely 
alone. Months passed without , meeting any one. One 
evening, night overtook him, tired and discouraged, in a 
plain in the midst of which was a large house. 

At daybreak he saw an ogress coming, frightfully tall and 
stout, who cried : " Snow-white-fire-red, lower your tresses 
for me to climb up ! " When the prince heard this he took 
heart, and said : " There she is ! " Snow-white-fire-red low- 
ered her tresses, which seemed never to end, and the ogress 
climbed up by them. The next day the ogress descended, 
and when the prince saw her depart, he came from under the 



FAIRY TALES. 73 

tree where he had concealed himself, and cried : " Snow- 
white-fire-red, lower your tresses for me to climb up ! " She, 
believing it was her mother (for she called the ogress 
mother), lowered her tresses, and the prince climbed boldly 
up. When he was up, he said : " Ah ! my dear little sister, 
how I have labored to find you ! " And he told her of the 
old woman's imprecation when he was seven years old. 

She gave him some refreshments, and then said : "You 
see, if the ogress returns and finds you here, she will de- 
vour you. Hide yourself." The ogress returned, and the 
prince concealed himself. 

After the ogress had eaten, her daughter gave her wine 
to drink, and made her drunk. Then she said : " My 
mother, what must I do to get away from here ? Not that 
I want to go, for I wish to stay with you ; but I want to 
know just out of curiosity. Tell me ! " " What you must 
do to get away from here ! " said the ogress. " You must 
enchant everything that there is here, so that I shall lose 
time. I shall call, and instead of you, the chair, the cup- 
board, the chest of drawers, will answer for you. When 
you do not appear, I will ascend. You must take the seven 
balls of yarn that I have laid away. When I come and do 
not find you, I shall pursue you ; when you see yourself 
pursued, throw down the first ball, and then the others. I 
shall always overtake you until you throw down the last 
ball." 

Her daughter heard all that she said, and remembered it. 
The next day the ogress went out, and Snow-white-fire-red 
and the prince did what they had to do. They went about 
the whole house, saying : " Table, you answer if my mother 
comes ; chairs, answer if my mother comes ; chest of draw- 
ers, answer if my mother comes ; " and so she enchanted 
the whole house. Then she and the prince departed in 
such a hurry that they seemed to fly. When the ogress re- 
turned, she called : " Snow-white-fire-red, let down your 
tresses that I may climb up ! " The table answered : 
" Come, come, mother ! " She waited a while, and when no 
one appeared to draw her up, she called again : " Snow- 



74 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

white-fire-red, lower your tresses for me to climb up ! " 
The chair answered : " Come, come, mother ! " She waited 
a while, but no one appeared ; then she called again, and the 
chest of drawers replied : " Come, come, mother ! " Mean- 
while the lovers were fleeing. When there was nothing 
left to answer, the ogress cried out : " Treason ! treason ! " 
Then she got a ladder and climbed up. When she saw that 
her daughter and the balls of yarn were gone, she cried ; 
"Ah, wretch! I will drink your blood!" Then she has- 
tened after the fugitives, following their scent. They saw 
her afar off, and when she saw them, she cried : " Snow- 
white-fire-red, turn around so that I can see you." (If she 
had turned around she would have been enchanted.) 

When the ogress had nearly overtaken them, Snow- white- 
fire-red threw down the first ball, and suddenly there arose 
a lofty mountain. The ogress was not disturbed ; she 
climbed and climbed until she almost overtook the two 
again. Then Snow-white-fire-red, seeing her near at hand, 
threw down the second ball, and there suddenly appeared a 
plain covered with razors and knives. The ogress, all cut 
and torn, followed after the lovers, dripping with blood. 

When Snow-white-fire-red saw her near again, she threw 
down the third ball, and there arose a terrible river. The 
ogress threw herself into the river and continued her pur- 
suit, although she was half dead. Then another ball, and 
there appeared a fountain of vipers, and many other things. 
At last, dying and worn out, the ogress stopped and cursed 
Snow-white-fire-red, saying: "The first kiss that the queen 
gives her son, may the prince forget you ! " Then the 
ogress could stand it no longer, and died in great anguish. 

The lovers continued their journey, and came to a town 
near where the prince lived. He said to Snow- white-fire- 
red : " You remain here, for you are not provided with 
proper clothes, and I will go and get what you need, and 
then you can appear before my father and mother." She 
consented, and remained. 

When the queen beheld her son, she threw herself on 
him to kiss him. " Mother," said he, " I have made a vow 



FAIRY TALES. J$ 

not to allow myself to be kissed." The poor mother was 
petrified. At night, while he was asleep, his mother, who 
was dying to kiss him, went and did so. From that mo- 
ment he forgot all about Snow-white-fire-red. 

Let us leave the prince with his mother, and return to 
the poor girl, who was left in the street without knowing 
where she was. An old woman met her, and saw the poor 
girl, as beautiful as the sun, weeping. " What is the mat- 
ter, my daughter ? " " I do not know how I came here ! " 
" My daughter, do not despair ; come with me." And she 
took her to her house. The young girl was deft with her 
hands, and could work enchantment. She made things, 
and the old woman sold them, and so they both lived. One 
day the maiden said to the old woman that she wanted two 
bits of old cloth from the palace for some work she had to 
do. The old woman went to the palace, and began to ask 
for the bits, and said so much that at last she obtained 
them. Now the old woman had two doves, a male and a 
female, and with these bits of cloth Snow-white-fire-red 
dressed the doves so prettily that all who saw them mar- 
velled. The young girl took these doves, and whispered in 
their ears : " You are the prince, and you are Snow-white- 
fire-red. The king is at the table, eating ; fly and relate 
all that you have undergone." 

While the king, queen, prince, and many others were at 
the table, the beautiful doves flew in and alighted on the 
table. " How beautiful you are ! " And all were greatly 
pleased. Then the dove which represented Snow-white- 
fire-red began : " Do you remember when you were young 
how your father promised a fountain of oil and one of wine 
for your birth ? " The other dove answered : " Yes, I re- 
member." "Do you remember the old woman whose 
pitcher of oil you broke ? do you remember ? " " Yes, I 
remember." " Do you remember the imprecation she pro- 
nounced on you, — that you could not marry until you 
found Snow-white-fire-red ? " " I remember," replied the 
other dove. In short, the first dove recalled all that had 
passed, and finally said : " Do you remember how you had 



?6 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the ogress at your heels, and how she cursed you, saying that 
at your mother's .first kiss you must forget Snow-white- 
fire-red ? " When the dove came to the kiss, the prince 
remembered everything, and the king and queen were as- 
tounded at hearing the doves speak. 

When they had ended their discourse, the doves made 
a low bow and flew away. The prince cried : " Ho, there ! 
ho, there ! see where those doves go ! see where they go ! " 
The servants looked and saw the doves alight on a country 
house. The prince hastened and entered it, and found 
Snow-white-fire-red. When he saw her he threw his arms 
about her neck, exclaiming : " Ah ! my sister, how much 
you have suffered for me ! " Straightway they dressed her 
beautifully and conducted her to the palace. When the 
queen saw her there, she said : " What a beauty ! " Things 
were soon settled and the lovers were married. 25 

As we have remarked above, this story is often found 
incomplete, the ending — "forgetfulness of bride " — being 
wanting. 

Several of these versions are from Milan {Nov. fior. pp. 
411, 415, 417). In the first, " The King of the Sun," a trait 
occurs that is of some interest. The hero plays billiards 
with the King of the Sun and wins his daughter. He goes 
in search of his bride, and at last finds an old man who tells 
him where the King of the Sun lives, and adds :"Ina wood 
near by is a pond where, in the afternoon, the king's three 
daughters bathe. Go and carry away their clothes ; and 
when they come and ask for them give them back on condi- 
tion that they will take you to their father." The hero does 
as he is told, is taken to the king, and obliged to choose his 
bride from among the three, with his eyes blindfolded. 
The remainder of the story consists of the usual flight, 
with the transformations of the lovers. The incident of 
the maidens who bathe, and whose clothes the hero steals, 
is clearly an example of the Swan-maiden myth, and occurs 
in a few other Italian tales. In a story from the North of 
Italy (Monferrato, Comparetti, No. 50), " The Isle of Hap- 



FAIRY TALES. J 1 / 

piness," a poor boy goes to seek his fortune. He encoun- 
ters an old man who tells him that fortune appears but once 
in a hundred years, and if not taken then, never is. He 
adds that this is the very time for fortune to appear — that 
day or the next — and advises the youth to hide himself in a 
wood near the bank of a stream, and when three beautiful 
girls come and bathe, to carry away the clothes of the mid- 
dle one. He does -so, and compels the owner (who is none 
other than Fortune) to marry him. By his mother's fault 
he loses his bride, as in the Cupid and Psyche stories, and 
is obliged to go in search of her to the Isle of Happiness. 
The same incident occurs in several Sicilian stories. In 
one (Pitre, No. 50, " Give me the Veil ! ") the hero, a poor 
youth, goes in search of his fortune as in the last story, and 
meets an old woman who tells him to go to a certain fountain, 
where twelve doves will come to drink and become twelve 
maidens " as beautiful as the sun, with veils over their faces," 
and advises the youth to seize the veil of the most beautiful 
girl and keep it ; for if she obtains it she will become a dove 
again. The youth does as he is commanded, and takes his 
wife home, giving the veil to his mother to keep for him. 
She gives it to the wife, who becomes a dove again, and dis- 
appears. The same thing happens twice ; the third time 
the veil is burned, and the wife, who turns out to be the en- 
chanted daughter of the king of Spain, remains with her 
husband. 26 

There yet remains a large and interesting class of stories 
to be examined. The class may conveniently be termed 
" Bluebeard," although, as we shall see, there are three ver- 
sions of this story, to only one of which the above name 
properly belongs. These three versions are well repre- 
sented by the three Grimm stories of " The Feather Bird " 
(No. 46), " The Robber Bridegroom " (No. 40), and " The 
Wood-cutter's Child (No. 3). In the first version, which is, 
properly speaking, the Bluebeard story, two sisters are mar- 
ried in turn and killed by their husband, because they open 
the forbidden chamber. The youngest sister, although 
she opens the forbidden door, manages to escape and de- 



?8 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

liver her sisters, whom she restores to life. In the second 
version a robber marries several sisters, whom he kills for 
disobeying his commands (the trait of forbidden chamber is 
usually wanting) ; the youngest sister again manages to 
escape and restores her dead sisters to life. Generally in 
this version the husband makes a desperate effort to be re- 
venged on the sister who has escaped from him, but fails in 
this also. In the third version a young girl is under the 
guardianship of some supernatural being, who forbids her 
to open a certain door. The child disobeys, denies her fault, 
and is sent away in disgrace ; she afterward marries and 
her children are taken from her one by one until she con- 
fesses her fault, or, as is the case in an Italian version, per- 
sists in her denial to the very end. We shall examine these 
three versions separately, and first give an example of the 
first, or Bluebeard, class. It is from Venice (Widter-Wolf, 
No. 1 1, jfakrb. VII. 148), and is entitled : 

XVI. HOW THE DEVIL MARRIED THREE SISTERS. 

Once upon a time the Devil was seized with a desire to 
marry. He therefore left hell, took the form of a hand- 
some young man, and built a fine large house. When it 
was completed and furnished in the most fashionable style, 
he introduced himself to a family where there were three 
pretty daughters, and paid his addresses to the eldest of 
them. The handsome man pleased the maiden, her parents 
were glad to see a daughter so well provided for, and it was 
not long before the wedding was celebrated. 

When he had taken his bride home, he presented her with 
a very tastefully arranged bouquet, led her through all the 
rooms of the house, and finally to a closed door. "The 
whole house is at your disposal," said he, " only I must re- 
quest one thing of you ; that is, that you do not on any ac- 
count open this door." 

Of course the young wife promised faithfully ; but equally, 
of course, she could scarcely wait for the moment to come 
when she might break her promise. When the Devil had 



FAIRY TALES. ?g 

left the house the next morning, under pretence of going 
hunting, she ran hastily to the forbidden door, opened it, 
and saw a terrible abyss full of fire that shot up towards 
her, and singed the flowers on her bosom. When her hus- 
band came home and asked her whether she had kept her 
promise, she unhesitatingly said "Yes ;" but he saw by the 
flowers that she was telling a lie, and said : " Now I will 
not put your curiosity to the test any longer. Come with 
me. I will show you myself what is behind the door." 
Thereupon he led her to the door, opened it, gave her such 
a push that she fell down into hell, and shut the door 
again. 

A few months after he wooed the next sister for his wife, 
and won her ; but with her everything that had happened 
with the first wife was exactly repeated. 

Finally he courted the third sister. She was a prudent 
maiden, and said to herself : " He has certainly murdered 
my two sisters ; but then it is a splendid match for me, so I 
will try and see whether I cannot be more fortunate than 
they." And accordingly she consented. After the wedding 
the bridegroom gave her a beautiful bouquet, but forbade 
her, also, to open the door which he pointed out. 

Not a whit less curious than her sisters, she, too, opened 
the forbidden door when the Devil had gone hunting, but 
she had previously put her flowers in water. Then she 
saw behind the door the fatal abyss and her sisters therein. 
"Ah ! " she exclaimed, "poor creature that I am ; I thought 
I had married an ordinary man, and instead of that he is 
the Devil ! How can I get away from him ? " She carefully 
pulled her two sisters out of hell and hid them. When 
the Devil came home he immediately looked at the bou- 
quet, which she again wore on her bosom, and when he 
found the flowers so fresh he asked no questions ; but reas- 
sured as to his secret, he now, for the first time, really loved 
her. 

After a few days she asked him if he would carry three 
chests for her to her parents' house, without putting them 
down or resting on the way. "But," she added, "you must 



80 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

keep your word, for I shall be watching you." The Devil 
promised to do exactly as she wished. So the next morn- 
ing she put one of her sisters in a chest, and laid it on her 
husband's shoulders. The Devil, who is very strong, but 
also very lazy and unaccustomed to work, soon got tired 
of carrying the heavy chest, and wanted to rest before he 
was out of the street on which he lived ; but his wife called 
out to him : " Don't put it down ; I see you ! " The Devil 
went reluctantly on with the chest until he had turned the 
corner, and then said to himself : " She cannot see me 
here ; I will rest a little." But scarcely had he begun to 
put the chest down when the sister inside cried out : 
" Don't put it down ; I see you still ! " Cursing, he dragged 
the chest on into another street, and was going to lay it 
down on a doorstep, but he again heard the voice : " Don't 
lay it down, you rascal ; I see you still ! " " What kind of 
eyes must my wife have," he thought, " to see around cor- 
ners as well as straight ahead, and through walls as if they 
were made of glass ! " and thus thinking he arrived, all in 
a perspiration and quite tired out, at the house of his 
mother-in-law, to whom he hastily delivered the chest, and 
then hurried home to strengthen himself with a good break- 
fast. 

The same thing was repeated the next day with the sec- 
ond chest. On the third day she herself was to be taken 
home in the chest. She therefore prepared a figure which 
she dressed in her own clothes, and placed on the balcony, 
under the pretext of being able to watch him better ; slipped 
quickly into the chest, and had the maid put it on the 
Devil's back. "The deuce!" said he; "this chest is a 
great deal heavier than the others ; and to-day, when she is 
sitting on the balcony, I shall have so much the less chance 
to rest." So by dint of the greatest exertions he carried it, 
without stopping, to his mother-in-law, and then hastened 
home to breakfast, scolding, and with his back almost 
broken. But quite contrary to custom, his wife did not 
come out to meet him, and there was no breakfast ready. 
" Margerita, where are you ? " he cried ; but received no 



FAIRY TALES. 8 1 

answer. As he was running through the corridors he at 
length looked out of a window, and saw the figure on the 
balcony. " Margerita, have you gone to sleep ? Come 
down. I am as tired as a dog, and as hungry as a wolf." 
But there was no reply. " If you do not come down in- 
stantly I will go up and bring you down," he cried, angrily ; 
but Margerita did not stir. Enraged, he hastened up to 
the balcony, and gave her such a box on the ear that her 
head flew off, and he saw that the head was nothing but a 
milliner's form, and the body, a bundle of rags. Raging, he 
rushed down and rummaged through the whole house, but 
in vain ; he found only his wife's empty jewel-box. " Ha ! " 
he cried ; " she has been stolen from me, and her jewels, 
too ! " and he immediately ran to inform her parents of the 
misfortune. But when he came near the house, to his 
great surprise he saw on the balcony above the door all 
three sisters, his wives, who were looking down on him 
with scornful laughter. 

Three wives at once terrified the Devil so much that he 
took his flight with all possible speed. 

Since that time he has lost his taste for marrying. 27 

We have already mentioned, in the class of " Bride Won 
by Solving Riddle," the story in Gonzenbach of "The Rob- 
ber who had a Witch's Head." In this story, after the 
robber has married the first princess, he takes her home, 
and learns from the witch's head, which hangs over the 
window in a basket, what his wife says of him in his ab- 
sence. The counterpart of the witch's head is found in 
several very curious Italian stories. In these a magician is 
substituted for the robber, and marries, in the same way, 
several sisters. In the version in Gonzenbach, No. 23 (" The 
Story of Ohime"), Ohime, the magician, leaves his wife for 
a few days, and before he goes gives her a human bone, 
telling her she must eat it before his return. The wife 
throws the bone away ; but when the magician returns he 
calls out: "Bone, where are you ?" "Here I am." "Come 
here, then." Then the bone came, and the magician mur- 
6 



82 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

dered his wife because she had not done her duty. The 
second sister is married and killed in the same way. Then 
the youngest becomes the magician's bride. In her per- 
plexity and grief at her husband's command to eat a human 
arm during his absence, she invokes her mother's spirit, 
which tells her to burn the arm to a coal, powder it, and 
bind it about her body. When the magician returns and 
asks the arm where it is, it replies: "In Maruzza's body." 
Then her husband trusted her, and treated her kindly, 
showing her, among other things, a closet containing flasks 
of salve which restored the dead to life. He forbade her, 
however, to open a certain door. Maruzza could not re- 
strain her curiosity, and the first opportunity she had she 
opened the door, and found in the room a handsome young 
prince murdered. She restored him to life, heard his story, 
and then killed him again, so that her husband would not 
notice it. Then she extracted from her husband the secret 
of his life: "I cannot be killed, but if any one sticks a 
branch of this herb in my ears I shall fall asleep, and not 
wake up again." Maruzza, of course, throws her husband, 
as soon as possible, into this magic sleep, restores the 
prince, flies with him, and marries him. 

Some years after, the branch in the magician's ears with- 
ered and fell out, and he awakened. Then he desired to be 
revenged, and travelled about until he found where his wife 
lived. Then he had a silver statue made in which he could 
conceal himself, and in which he placed some musical in- 
struments. He shut himself up in it, and had himself and 
the statue taken to the palace where Maruzza and her hus- 
band lived. In the night, when all were asleep, the magi- 
cian came out of the statue, carried Maruzza to the kitchen, 
kindled a fire, and put on some oil to boil, into which he 
intended to throw poor Maruzza. But just as he was about 
to do it, the flask which he had laid on the king's bed, and 
which had thrown him into a magic sleep, rolled off, and 
the king awoke, heard Maruzza's cries, saved her, and 
threw the magician into the boiling oil. In spite of his 
assurances he seems to have been very thoroughly killed. 28 



FAIRY TALES. 83 

A Florentine story {Nov. fior. p. 290), called "The Ba- 
ker's Three Daughters," is a combination of the Bluebeard 
and Robber Bridegroom stories. The husband forbids his 
wife to open a certain door with a gold key, saying : "You 
cannot deceive me ; the little dog will tell me ; and, besides, 
I will leave you a bouquet of flowers, which you must give 
me on my return, and which will wither if you enter that 
room." The two sisters yield to their curiosity, and are 
killed. The third sister kills the treacherous little dog, de- 
livers the prince, as in the last story, flies with him, and 
the story ends much as the last does. In a Milanese ver- 
sion of this story, with the same title (Nov. fior. p. 298), 
the robber bridegroom takes his wife home, and informs 
her that it is her duty to watch at night, and open the 
door to the robbers when they return. The poor wife falls 
asleep, and is murdered. So with the second sister. The 
third remains awake, rescues the prince, and flies with him. 
The rest of the story is as above. 

Of the third version of the Bluebeard story there are but 
two Italian examples : one from Sicily (Gonz. No. 20), and 
one from Pisa (Comparetti, No. 38). The former is entitled 
"The Godchild of St. Francis of Paula," and is, briefly, as 
follows : A queen, through the intercession of St. Francis 
of Paula, has a girl, whom she names Pauline, from the 
saint. The saint is in the habit of meeting the child on 
her way to school, and giving her candy. One day the 
saint tells her to ask her mother whether it is best to suffer 
in youth or old age. The mother replies that it is better 
to suffer in youth. Thereupon the saint carries away Paul- 
ine, and shuts her up in a tower, climbing up and down by 
her tresses, as in other stories we have already mentioned. 
In the tower the saint instructed Pauline in all that be- 
longed to her rank. One day a king climbs up by the hair, 
and persuades Pauline to fly with him. She consents and 
becomes his bride. When her first child was born St. Fran- 
cis came and took it away, rubbed the mother's mouth 
with blood, and deprived her of speech. Three times this 
happened, and then the queen was repudiated and confined 



84 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

in a remote room, where she spent her time in praying to 
St. Francis. 

Meanwhile the queen-mother arranged another marriage 
for her son ; but during the banquet the saint brought Paul- 
ine royal robes, and restored her three children to her. 
Then he led all four to the banquet-hall, and the happy 
family lived thereafter in peace and happpines. 

The "forbidden chamber "is omitted in the above ver- 
sion, but is found in the Pisan story, " The Woodman." 
The main idea of the story, however, is curiously distorted. 
A woodman had three daughters whom he cannot support. 
One day a lady met him in the wood, and offered to take 
one of his daughters for a companion, giving him a purse 
of money, and assuring him that he would always find 
enough wood. The lady took her home, and told her she 
must not open a certain door during her absence. The girl 
did so, however, and saw her mistress in a bath, with two 
damsels reading a book. She closed the door at once ; but 
when the mistress returned and asked her whether she had 
disobeyed, and what she had seen, she confessed her fault, 
and told what she saw. Then the lady cut her head off, 
hung it by the hair to a beam, and buried the body. 

The same thing happened to the second sister, who 
opened the door, and saw the lady sitting at a table with 
gentlemen. The lady killed her, too, and then took the 
third sister, who, in spite of having seen her two sisters' 
heads, could not control her curiosity, and opened the door. 
She saw her mistress reclining in a beautiful bed. In the 
evening the lady returned and asked her what she had 
seen; but she answered : "I have seen nothing." The lady 
could extort no other answer from her, and finally clothed 
her in her peasant's dress, and took her back to the wood 
and left her. 

The king of the neighboring city happened to pass by, 
and fell in love with her, and married her. When her first 
child was born the lady appeared at her bedside, and said : 
" Now it is time to tell me what you saw." " I saw noth- 
ing," replied the young queen. Then the lady carried away 



FAIRY TALES. 85 

the child, having first rubbed the mother's mouth with 
blood. This happened a second time, and then the king 
put her away, and prepared to marry again. The first wife 
was invited to the wedding feast. While at the table the 
lady appeared under it, and pulled the first wife's dress, and 
said : " Will you tell what you saw ? " The reply was twice : 
"Nothing." Then the queen fainted. At that momenta 
carriage drove up to the palace with a great lady in it, who 
asked to see the king. She told him that it was she who 
had carried away his children, and added that from her 
childhood she had been subjected to an enchantment that 
was to end when she found a person who should say that 
she had seen nothing in that room. She then brought 
back the children, and all lived together in peace and joy. 29 
One of the most beautiful and touching of all fairy tales 
is the one known to the readers of Grimm's collection by 
the title of " Faithful John," and which has such a charm- 
ing parallel in the story of " Rama and Luxman," in Miss 
Frere's " Old Deccan Days." There are seven Italian ver- 
sions of this interesting story, which we shall mention 
briefly, giving first the shortest entire, as a point of depart- 
ure. It is from the North of Italy (Comparetti, Monfer- 
rato, No. 29), and is called : 

XVII. IN LOVE WITH A STATUE. 

There was once a king who had two sons. The eldest 
did not wish to marry, and the youngest, although he went 
about everywhere, found no lady to his taste. Now it hap- 
pened that he once went to a certain city, and there saw a 
statue with which he fell in love. He bought it, had it car- 
ried to his room, and every day embraced and kissed it. 
One day his father became aware of this, and said to him : 
" What are you doing ? If you want a wife, take one of 
flesh and bones, and not one of marble." He answered that 
he would take one exactly like the statue, or none at all. 
His older brother, who at this time had nothing to do, went 
out into the world to seek her. On his way he saw in a 



86 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

city a man who had a mouse which danced so that it seemed 
like a human being. He said to himself : " I will take it 
home to my brother to amuse himself with." He continued 
his journey, and, arrived in a more distant town, where he 
found a bird that sang like an angel, and bought that, too, 
for his brother. He was on the point of returning home, 
and was passing through a street, when he saw a beggar 
knocking at a door. A very beautiful girl appeared at the 
window, who resembled in every respect the prince's statue, 
and suddenly withdrew. Then he told the beggar to ask 
alms again ; but the beggar refused, because he feared 
that the magician, who was then absent, would return home 
and eat him up. But the prince gave him so much money 
and other things that he knocked again, and the young girl 
appeared again, and suddenly withdrew. Then the prince 
went through the streets, saying that he mended and sold 
looking-glasses. The servant of the young girl, who heard 
him, told her mistress to go and see the mirrors. She 
went, but he told her that if she wanted to select the mir- 
rors she would have to go on board his ship. When she 
was there, he carried her away, and she wept bitterly and 
sighed, so that he would let her return home, but it was 
like speaking to the wall. 

When they were out at sea, there was heard the voice of 
a large black bird, saying : " Ciriu, ciriu! what a handsome 
mouse you have ! You will take it to your brother ; you will 
turn his head ; and if you tell him of it, you will become 
marble. Ciriu, ciriu ! a fine bird you have ; you will take it 
to your brother ; you will turn his head ; and if you tell him, 
you will become marble. Ciriu, ciriu ! a fine lady you have ; 
you will take her to your brother ; you will turn his head ; 
and if you tell him of it, you will become marble." He did 
not know how he could tell his brother, because he was afraid 
of becoming marble. He landed, and took the mouse to his 
brother ; and when he had seen it and wanted it, the elder 
brother cut off its head. Then he showed him the bird that 
sang like an angel, and his brother wanted it ; but the elder 
brother again cut off its head. Then he said : " I have some- 



FAIRY TALES. %J 

thing handsomer," and he produced the beautiful girl who 
looked like the statue. And as the brother who had brought 
her said nothing, the other feared that he would take her 
away from him, and had him thrown into prison, where he was 
a long time ; and because he continued to keep silence, he 
was condemned to death. Three days before he was to die 
he asked his brother to come and see him, and he consented, 
although unwillingly. Then the condemned brother said : 
" A large black bird told me that if I brought you back the 
dancing mouse, and spoke, I should become a statue." And 
saying this, he became a statue to the waist. " And if, 
bringing you the singing bird, I spoke, it would be the 
same." Then he became a statue to his breast. "And if, 
bringing you the lady, I spoke, I should become a statue." 
Then he became a statue all over, and his brother began 
to lament in despair, and tried to restore him to life. All 
kinds of physicians came, but none succeeded. Finally 
there came one who said that he was capable of turning the 
statue into a man provided they gave him what he needed. 
The king said he would do so, and the physician demanded 
the blood of the king's two children ; but the mother would 
on no account consent. Then the king gave a ball, and 
while his wife was dancing he had the two children killed, 
and bathed with their blood the statue of his brother, and 
the statue straightway became a man and went to the ball. 
The mother, when she beheld him, suddenly thought of her 
children. She ran to them and found them half dead, and 
fainted away. All around sought to console and encourage 
her ; but when she opened her eyes and saw the physician, 
she cried : " Out of my sight, ugly wretch ! It is you who 
have caused my children to be killed." He answered : 
" Pardon me, my lady, I have done no harm. Go and see 
whether your children are there ! " She ran to see, and 
found them alive and making a great noise. Then the 
physician said : " I am the magician, your father, whom you 
forsook, and I have wished to show you what it is to love 
one's children." Then they made peace, and remained 
happy and contented. 



88 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

In the Venetian version (Teza, La Trad, dei Sette Sari, 
p. 26), called " Mela and Buccia," from the names of the 
prince and his friend, while the two friends are spending 
the night in a deserted castle, Buccia hears a voice fore- 
telling the dangers to which Mela will be exposed. His 
horse will throw him if Buccia does not kill it ; a dragon will 
devour him on his wedding night if Buccia does not kill it ; 
and finally, the queen's pet dog will mortally wound him if 
Buccia does not kill it. If, however, Buccia reveals what he 
has heard, he will turn to stone. Buccia acts accordingly, 
and the king forgives him everything but killing the queen's 
pet dog ; for that Buccia is condemned to be hung. Then 
he relates all, and gradually turns to stone from his feet up. 
The king, queen, and Buccia's mother are inconsolable until 
they are informed by an old woman that the blood of the 
little prince will bring the statue back to life. The faithful 
friend is by that means restored, and the child also saved. 
In this version the abduction is wanting, and the last dan- 
ger is not the one usually threatened. 

In a version from Siena (Gradi, Vigilia, p. 64), one of 
two brothers goes in search of the " Princess with Blonde 
Tresses." He also buys a parrot and a horse, and the dan- 
gers are : he who touches the parrot will have his eyes put 
out ; he who mounts the horse will be thrown ; he who mar- 
ries the fair one will be devoured by a dragon ; and he who 
reveals these dangers will become stone. The remainder 
of the story is like the last version. 

The Florentine version (Nov. fior. p. 421) is mixed up 
with a number of other incidents. The dangers from which 
the prince is saved by his faithful servant are : poisoned 
apples, poisoned pastry, and a lion in the royal chamber. 
The servant is turned to stone and restored, as in the other 
versions. 

In a Mantuan story (Fiabe mant, No. 9), the dangers are : 
parrot, horse, and bride ; whoever touches these will be de- 
voured by a dragon ; whoever reveals these dangers will 
become stone. The conclusion is the same as above. 

The last version we shall mention here is in the Pentam- 



FAIRY TALES. 89 

erone (IV. 9), and resembles the one from Monferrato. 
The elder brother, who goes in search of a bride for his 
younger brother, buys a falcon and a horse. The first will 
pick out the younger brother's eyes ; the horse will throw 
him, and finally a dragon will devour him on his wedding 
night. The remainder of the story is as usual. 30 

We shall conclude this chapter with the class of stories 
in which giants are outwitted by men. The simplest form 
is found in two stories which are interesting examples of 
the survival of classic myths. Both stories are from Sicily, 
and one was told to Pitre by a girl eight years old (Pitre, 
No. 51). It is entitled "The Little Monk," and is, in sub- 
stance, as follows : There were once two monks who went 
begging for the church every year. One was large and the 
other small. They lost their way once and came to a large 
cave, in which was a monster (lit. animal, armahi), who 
was building a fire. The two monks, however, did not be- 
lieve it was a monster, but said : " Let us go and rest 
there." They entered, and saw the monster killing a sheep 
and roasting it. He had already killed and cooked twenty. 

"Eat ! " said the monster to them. " We don't want to 
eat ; we are not hungry." " Eat, I tell you ! " After they 
had eaten the sheep, they lay down, and the monster closed 
the entrance to the cave with a great stone. Then he took 
a sharp iron, heated it in the fire, and stuck it in the throat 
of the larger of the two monks, roasted the body, and wanted 
the other monk to help eat it. " I don't want to eat," 
said he ; "I am full." " Get up ! " said the monster. " If 
you don't I will kill you." 

The wretched monk arose in fright, seated himself at the 
table, and pretended to eat, but threw the flesh away. In 
the night the good man took the iron, heated it, and plunged 
it in the monster's eyes. Then the monk in his terror 
slipped into the skin of a sheep. The monster felt his way 
to the entrance of the cave, removed the stone, and let the 
sheep out one by one ; and so the good man escaped and 
returned to Trapani, and told his story to some fishermen. 
The monster went fishing, and being blind, stumbled against 



90 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

a rock and broke his head. The other version is from the 
Albanian colony of Piana de' Greci (Comparetti, No. 70), 
in Sicily, and is substantially the same as the story just 
given. 31 

Generally, however, the stories in which giants are out- 
witted by men are more complicated, and may be divided 
into two classes : one where the giant is outwitted by supe- 
rior cunning, the other where the giant's stupidity is de- 
ceived by the man's braggadocio. The first class may be 
represented by a Sicilian story (Pitre, No. 33), entitled : 

XVIII. THIRTEENTH. 

There was once a father who had thirteen sons, the 
youngest of whom was named Thirteenth. The father had 
hard work to support his children, but made what he could 
gathering herbs. The mother, to make the children quick, 
said to them : " The one who comes home first shall have 
herb soup." Thirteenth always returned the first, and the 
soup always fell to his share, on which account his brothers 
hated him and sought to get rid of him. 

The king issued a proclamation in the city that he who 
was bold enough to go and steal the ogre's coverlet should 
receive a measure of gold. Thirteenth's brothers went to 
the king and said: "Majesty, we have a brother, named 
Thirteenth, who is confident that he can do that and other 
things too." The king said: "Bring him to me at once." 
They brought Thirteenth, who said : " Majesty, how is it 
possible to steal the ogre's coverlet ? If he sees me he will 
eat me ! " " No matter, you must go," said the king. " I 
know that you are bold, and this act of bravery you must 
perform." Thirteenth departed and went to the house of 
the ogre, who was away. The ogress was in the kitchen. 
Thirteenth entered quietly and hid himself under the bed. 
At night the ogre returned. He ate his supper and went 
to bed, saying as he did so : 

" I smell the smell of human flesh ; 
Where I see it I will swallow it ! " 



FAIRY TALES. 9 1 

The ogress replied : " Be still ; no one has entered here." 
The ogre began to snore, and Thirteenth pulled the cover- 
let a little. The ogre awoke and cried : " What is that ? " 
Thirteenth began to mew like a cat. The ogress said : 
" Scat ! scat ! " and clapped her hands, and then fell asleep 
again with the ogre. Then Thirteenth gave a hard pull, 
seized the coverlet, and ran away. The ogre heard him 
running, recognized him in the dark, and said : " I know 
you ! You are Thirteenth, without doubt ! " 

After a time the king issued another proclamation, that 
whoever would steal the ogre's horse and bring it to the 
king should receive a measure of gold. Thirteenth again 
presented himself, and asked for a silk ladder and a bag of 
cakes. With these things he departed, and went at night 
to the ogre's, climbed up without being heard, and de- 
scended to the stable. The horse neighed on seeing him, 
but he offered it a cake, saying : " Do you see how sweet it 
is ? If you will come with me, my master will give you 
these always." Then he gave it another, saying : "Let me 
mount you and see how we go." So he mounted it, kept 
feeding it with cakes, and brought it to the king's stable. 

The king issued another proclamation, that he would give 
a measure of gold to whoever would bring him the ogre's 
bolster. Thirteenth said : " Majesty, how is that possible ? 
The bolster is full of little bells, and you must know that 
the ogre awakens at a breath." " I know nothing about 
it," said the king. "I wish it at any cost." Thirteenth de- 
parted, and went and crept under the ogre's bed. At mid- 
night he stretched out his hand very softly, but the little 
bells all sounded. " What is that ? " said the ogre. " Noth- 
ing," replied the ogress ; " perhaps it is the wind that makes 
them ring." But the ogre, who was suspicious, pretended 
to sleep, but kept his ears open. Thirteenth stretched out 
his hand again. Alack ! the ogre put out his arm and seized 
him. " Now you are caught ! Just wait ; I will make you 
cry for your first trick, for your second, and for your third." 
After this he put Thirteenth in a barrel, and began to feed 
him on raisins and figs. After a time he said : " Stick out 



92 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

your finger, little Thirteenth, so that I can see whether you 
are fat." Thirteenth saw there a mouse's tail, and stuck 
that out. " Ah, how thin you are ! " said the ogre ; " and 
besides, you don't smell good ! Eat, my son ; take the rai- 
sins and figs, and get fat soon ! " After some days the 
ogre told him again to put out his finger, and Thirteenth 
stuck out a spindle. " Eh, wretch ! are you still lean ? Eat, 
eat, and get fat soon." 

At the end of a month Thirteenth had nothing more to 
stick out, and was obliged to show his finger. The ogre 
cried out in joy : " He is fat, he is fat ! " The ogress has- 
tened to the spot : " Quick, my ogress, heat the oven three 
nights and three days, for I am going to invite our rela- 
tives, and we will make a fine banquet of Thirteenth." 

The ogress heated the oven three days and three nights, 
and then released Thirteenth from the barrel, and said to 
him : " Come here, Thirteenth ; we have got to put the 
lamb in the oven." But Thirteenth caught her meaning ; 
and when he approached the oven, he said: "Ah, mother 
ogress, what is that black thing in the corner of the oven ? " 
The ogress stooped down a little, but saw nothing. " Stoop 
down again," said Thirteenth, " so that you can see it." 
When she stooped down again, Thirteenth seized her by 
the feet and threw her into the oven, and then closed the 
oven door. When she was cooked, he took her out care- 
fully, cut her in two, divided her legs into pieces, and put 
them on the table, and placed her trunk, with her head and 
arms, in the bed, under the sheet, and tied a string to the 
chin and another to the back of her head. 

When the ogre arrived with his guests he found the 
dishes on the table. Then he went to his wife's bed and 
asked : " Mother ogress, do you want to dine ? " Thirteenth 
pulled the string, and the ogress shook her head. " How 
are you, tired ? " And Thirteenth, who was hidden under 
the bed, pulled the other string and made her nod. Now 
it happened that one of her relatives moved something and 
saw that the ogress was dead, and only half of her was 
there. She cried in a loud voice: "Treason! treason!" 



FAIRY TALES. 93 

and all hastened to the bed. In the midst of the confusion 
Thirteenth escaped from under the bed and ran away to 
the king with the bolster and the ogre's most valuable 
things. 

After this, the king said to Thirteenth : " Listen, Thir- 
teenth. To complete your valiant exploits, I wish you to' 
bring me the ogre himself, in person, alive and well." 
" How can I, your Majesty ? " said Thirteenth. Then he 
roused himself, and added : " I see how, now ! " Then he 
had a very strong chest made, and disguised himself as a 
monk, with a long, false beard, and went to the ogre's 
house, and called out to him : " Do you know Thirteenth ? 
The wretch ! he has killed our superior ; but if I catch 
him ! If I catch him, I will shut him up in this chest ! " 
At these words the ogre drew near and said : " I, too, would 
like to help you, against that wretch of an assassin, for you 
don't know what he has done to me." And he began to 
tell his story. " But what shall we do ? " said the pretended 
monk. " I do not know Thirteenth. Do you know him ? " 
" Yes, sir." "Then tell me, father ogre, how tall is he ?" 
" As tall as I am." "If that is so," said Thirteenth, "let 
us see whether this chest will hold you ; if it will hold you, 
it will hold him." " Oh, good ! " said the ogre ; and got 
into the chest. Then Thirteenth shut the chest and said : 
" Look carefully, father ogre, and see whether there is any 
hole in the chest." "There is none." "Just wait ; let us 
see whether it shuts well, and is heavy to carry." 

Meanwhile Thirteenth shut and nailed up the chest, took 
it on his back, and hastened to the city. When the ogre 
cried : " Enough, now ! " Thirteenth ran all the faster, and, 
laughing, sang this song to taunt the ogre : 

" I am Thirteenth, 
Who carry you on my back ; 
I have tricked you and am going to trick you. 
I must deliver you to the king." 

When he reached the king, the king had an iron chain at- 
tached to the ogre's hands and feet, and made him gnaw 
bones the rest of his miserable life. The king gave Thir- 



94 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

teenth all the riches and treasures he could bestow on him, 
and always wished him at his side, as a man of the highest 
valor. 32 

The second version of the above story, in which the 
giant is deceived by the hero's braggadocio, is represented 
by several Italian stories ; the simplest are some Milanese 
versions (Nov.fior. pp. 575-580), one of which {Ibid. p. 575) 
is as follows : 

XIX. THE COBBLER. 

There was once a cobbler who one day was so tired of cob- 
bling that he said : " Now I will go and seek my fortune." 
He bought a little cheese and put it on the table. It got 
full of flies, and he took an old shoe, and hit the cheese and 
killed all the flies. He afterward counted them, and five 
hundred were killed, and four hundred wounded. He then 
girded on a sword, and put on a cocked hat, and went to 
the court, and said to the king : " I am the chief warrior of 
the flies. Four hundred I have killed, and five hundred I 
have wounded." The king answered : " Since you are a 
warrior, you will be brave enough to climb that mountain 
there, where there are two magicians, and kill them. If you 
kill them, you shall marry my daughter." Then he gave 
him a white flag to wave when he had killed them. " And 
sound the trumpet, you will put his head in a bag, both the 
heads, to show me." The cobbler then departed, and found 
a house, which was an inn, and the inn-keeper and his wife 
were none other than the magician and his wife. He asked 
for lodging and food, and all he needed. Afterward he 
went to his room ; but before going to bed, he looked up at 
the ceiling. There he saw a great stone over the bed. 
Instead of getting into bed, he got into a corner. When a 
certain hour struck, the magicians let the stone drop and it 
crushed the whole bed. The next morning the cobbler 
went down and said that he could not sleep for the noise. 
They told him they would change his room. The same 
thing happened the next night, and in the morning they 



FAIRY TALES. 95 

told him they would give him another room. When it was 
a certain hour, the husband and wife went to the forest to 
cut a bundle of fagots. Then the magician went home ; 
and the cobbler, who had made ready a sickle, said : " Wait 
until I help you to take the bundle off your back." Then 
he gave the magician a blow with the sickle and cut off his 
head. He did the same thing when the magician's wife 
returned. Then he unfurled his flag, and sounded his 
trumpet, and the band went out to meet him. After he 
had arrived at the court, the king said to him : " Now that 
you have killed the two magicians, you shall marry my 
daughter." But the cobbler had got so used to drawing 
the thread that he did so in his sleep, and kept hitting his 
wife, so that she could not rest. Then the king gave him 
a great deal of money and sent him home. 33 

, A more detailed version is found in a Sicilian story in 
Gonzenbach, "The Brave Shoemaker" (No. 41), the first 
part of which is like the Milanese version. On his way to 
the giant's, the cobbler makes some balls of plaster of Paris 
and cream-cheese, and puts them in his pocket. When he 
heard the giant coming through the woods, he climbed a 
tree ; but the giant scented him, and told him to come down. 
The cobbler answered that if he did not leave him alone he 
would twist his neck ; and to show him how strong he was, 
he crushed the balls of plaster of Paris in his hands, telling 
the giant they were marble. The giant was frightened, and 
invited the cobbler to remain with him, and took him home. 
After a while, the giant asked him to bring some water in 
a pitcher from the well. The cobbler said that if the giant 
would give him a strong rope he would bring the well it- 
self. The giant in terror took the pitcher, and drew the 
water himself. Then the giant asked the cobbler to cut 
some wood, but the latter asked for a strong rope to drag 
a whole tree to the house with. Then the giant proposed 
a trial of strength, to see which could carry a heavy stick 
the longer. The cobbler said that the giant had better 
wind something about the thick end, for when he, the cob- 



g6 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

bier, turned a somersault with it, he might hit the giant. 
When they went to bed, the giant made the cobbler sleep 
with him ; but the latter crept under the bed, leaving a 
pumpkin in his place. The giant, who was anxious to get 
rid of the cobbler, took an iron bar and struck at the pump- 
kin all night, believing it the cobbler's head. After he had 
beaten the pumpkin to pieces, the cobbler, under the bed, 
gave a sigh. " What is the matter with you ? " asked the 
terrified giant. " A flea has just bitten my ear," answered 
the cobbler. The next day the cobbler proposed to the 
giant to cook a great kettle of macaroni, and after they had 
eaten it, he would cut open his stomach to show the giant 
that he had eaten it without chewing it ; the giant was to 
do the same afterward. The cobbler, of course, secretly 
tied a sack about his neck, and put his macaroni in it ; then 
he took a knife and ripped open the bag, and the macaroni 
fell out. The giant, in attempting to follow the cobbler's 
example, killed himself. Then the cobbler cut his head off, 
carried it to the king, and claimed his daughter's hand. 34 

The stories given in this chapter constitute, as we have 
already said in the Introduction, but a small part of Italian 
fairy tales. They represent, however, as well as our space 
will allow, the great fairy cycles, so to speak. As our pur- 
pose has been to give only those stories which have been 
taken down from the mouths of the people, we have not 
drawn, except for purposes of reference, upon the Pentame- 
rone, one of the most original and charming collections of 
fairy tales in any language. Enough has been given, we 
trust, to show how the Italians have treated the themes 
familiar to us from childhood, and to furnish the scholar 
with additional material for comparison. 



CHAPTER II. 

FAIRY TALES CONTINUED. 

The fairy tales given in the last chapter belong to what 
may be called the great fairy tale cycles ; that is, to exten- 
sive classes that are typical forms. It remains to notice in 
this chapter those stories which do not belong to any of 
these typical classes, but constitute, so to speak, independ- 
ent forms. 

The reader has perhaps noticed in the fairy tales of the 
first chapter the conspicuous absence of the fairies to which 
we are accustomed in German or Celtic stories. We have 
met ogres and magicians with magic powers, old men and 
women, and hermits who have aided the hero and heroine, 
and played the role of the " good fairy," but the fairy in the 
bright shape in which we see her in French and Irish sto- 
ries, for example, has been wanting. It will not be amiss, 
then, to give a few stories in which the fairies play a more 
important part. We shall first mention a curious story in 
which the fairies are represented in one of their most usual 
roles — that of bestowing good gifts. The story is from 
Sicily (Gonz. No. 73), and is entitled : 

XXV. THE KING WHO WANTED A BEAUTIFUL WIFE. 

There was once a king who wanted to marry. But his 
wife must be more beautiful than the sun, and no matter 
how many maidens he saw, none was beautiful enough to 
suit him. Then he called his trusty servant, and com- 
manded him to seek everywhere and see whether he could 
find a beautiful girl. The servant set out, and wandered 
through the whole land, but found none who seemed hand- 
some enough to him. One day, however, after he had run 
7 



98 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

about a great deal and was very thirsty, he came to a little 
house. He knocked and asked for a drink of water. Now 
there dwelt in the house two very old women, — one eighty 
and the other ninety years old, — who supported themselves 
by spinning. When the servant asked for water, the one 
eighty years old rose, opened a little wicket in the shutter, 
and handed him out the water. From spinning so much, 
her hands were very white and delicate ; and when the ser- 
vant saw them he thought, u It must be a handsome maiden, 
for she has such a delicate white hand." So he hastened to 
the king, and said: "Your royal Majesty, I have found 
what you seek ; so and so has happened to me." " Very 
well," answered the king, " go once more and try to see 
her." 

The servant returned to the little house, knocked, and 
asked again for some water. The old woman did not open 
the window, but handed him the pitcher through the little 
opening in the shutter. " Do you live here all alone ? " 
asked the servant. " No," she answered. " I live here with 
my sister ; we are poor girls and support ourselves by the 
work of our hands." " How old are you, then ? " " I am 
fifteen and my sister twenty." The servant went back to 
the king and told him all, and the king said : " I will take 
the one who is fifteen. Go and bring her to me." When 
the servant returned to the two old women, and told them 
that the king wished to elevate the younger to the position 
of his wife, she answered : " Tell the king I am ready to do 
his will. Since my birth no ray of the sun has ever struck 
me, and if a ray of the sun or a beam of light should strike 
me now, I would become perfectly black. Ask the king, 
therefore, to send a closed carriage for me at night, and I 
will come to his palace." 

When the king heard this he sent royal apparel and a 
closed carriage, and at night the old woman covered her 
face with a thick veil and rode to the palace. The king re- 
ceived her joyfully, and begged her to lay aside the veil. 
She replied : " There are too many lighted candles here ; 
their light would make me black." So the king married 



FAIRY TALES. 99 

her without having seen her face. When they came into 
the king's chamber, however, and she removed her veil, the 
king saw for the first time what an ugly old woman he had 
married, and in his rage he opened the window and threw 
her out. Fortunately there was a nail in the wall, on which 
she caught by her clothes, and remained hanging between 
heaven and earth. Four fairies chanced to pass by, and 
when they saw the old woman hanging there, one of them 
cried : " See, sisters, there is the old woman who cheated 
the king ; shall we wish her dress to tear and let her fall ? " 
" Oh, no ! let us not do that," cried the youngest and most 
beautiful of the fairies. " Let us rather wish her something 
good. I wish her youth." "And I, beauty." "And I, 
prudence." "And I, a good heart." Thus the fairies cried, 
and while they were yet speaking the old woman became a 
wondrous fair maiden. 

The next morning, when the king looked out of the win- 
dow and saw the beautiful girl hanging there, he was terri- 
fied, and thought : " Unhappy man ! What have I done ! 
Had I no eyes last night ? " Then he had her carefully 
taken down with long ladders, and begged her pardon, say- 
ing : " Now we will have a great festival and be right 
happy." So they celebrated a splendid feast, and the young 
queen was the fairest in the whole city. 

But one day the sister ninety years old came to the pal- 
ace to visit the queen, her sister. " Who is this ugly crea- 
ture?" asked the king. "An old neighbor of mine who is 
half-witted," replied the queen, quickly. The old woman 
kept looking at her rejuvenated sister, and asked : " What 
did you do to become so young and lovely ? I, too, would 
like to be young and pretty again." She kept asking this 
the whole day, until the queen finally lost her patience, and 
said : " I had my old skin taken off, and this new, smooth 
skin came to light." The old woman went to a barber and 
said : " I will give you what you will to remove my old skin, 
so that I may become young and handsome again." " But 
good old woman, you will surely die if I skin you." The 
old woman would not listen to him, and at last he had to do 



100 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

her will. He took his knife and made a cut in her fore- 
head. " Oh ! " cried the old woman. 

" Who will look fair 
Must grief and pain bear," 

answered the barber. " Then skin away, master," said the 
old woman. The barber kept cutting on, until all at once 
the old woman fell down dead. 1 

This story leads quite naturally to the class in which gifts, 
good and bad, are bestowed by the fairies on two persons, 
one of whom is deserving of good fortune ; the other, of 
punishment or reproof. The simplest form of this story is 
found in a Milanese tale (Nov. fior. p. 190). 

XXVI. THE BUCKET. 

There was once a mother who had two daughters : one 
was bad and the other was very good. But the mother 
loved the bad one more than the good one. She said one 
day to the bad one : " Go and draw a bucket of water." 
The bad one did not want to go, and so she would not obey 
her mother. The good daughter, however, said : " I will go 
and draw it." She went to draw the water, and the bucket 
fell down the well. She said : "If I go home now without 
the bucket, who knows what my mother will do to me ? " 
So she climbed down the well, and at the bottom found a 
narrow passage, with a door. She knocked at the door. 
" Have you not found a cord and bucket ? " There was a 
saint there, who answered: "No, my child." She contin- 
ued her way and found another door. " Have you not 
found a cord and bucket ? " " No ! " That was the devil 
there. He answered her angrily because she was a good 
girl ; he did not say : " My child." She knocked at another 
door. " Have you not found a cord and bucket?" It was 
the Madonna who replied : " Yes, my child. Listen. You 
could do me a pleasure to stay here while I am away. I 
have my little son here, to whom you will give his soup ; 
you will sweep and put the house in order. When I come 



FAIRY TALES. 10 1 

home I will give you your bucket." The Madonna went 
away, and the good girl put the house in order, gave the 
child his broth, swept the house ; and while she was sweep- 
ing, instead of finding dirt, she found coral and other beau- 
tiful things. She saw that it was not dirt, and put it aside 
to give the Madonna when she returned. When the Ma- 
donna came back, she asked : " Have you done all I told 
you to do ? " The good girl answered : " Yes, but I have 
kept these things here ; I found them on the ground ; it is 
not dirt." "Very well ; keep them for yourself. Would you 
like a dress of calico, or one of silk? " The girl answered : 
" No, no ! a calico dress." Instead of that, the Madonna 
gave her the silk one. " Do you wish a brass thimble, or a 
silver one ? " " Give me the brass one." " No, take the 
silver thimble. Here is the bucket and your cord. When 
you reach the end of this passage, look up in the air." The 
girl did so, and a beautiful star fell on her brow. 

She went home, and her mother ran to meet her to scold 
her for being away so long ; and was about to strike her, 
when she saw the star on her brow, which shone so that it 
was beautiful to see, and said :. " Where have you been 
until now ? Who put that thing on your forehead ? " The 
girl answered : " I don't know what there is there." Her 
mother tried to wash it away, but instead of disappearing, 
it shone more beautiful than ever. Then the girl told what 
had happened to her, and the other sister wished to go 
there, too. She went, and did the same as her sister. She 
let the bucket fall, climbed down, and knocked at the saint's 
door. " Have you not found a cord and bucket ? " " No, 
my child." She knocked at the next door. " Have you 
not found a cord and bucket ? " The devil answered : " No, 
I have not found them ; but come here, my child, come 
here." But when she heard that he had not found her 
bucket, she said : " No, I will go on." She knocked at 
the Madonna's door. " Have you not found a cord and 
bucket ? " The Madonna said that she had. " I am going 
away : you will give my son his broth, and then you will 
sweep. When I return I will give you your bucket." In- 



102 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

stead of giving the broth to the child, the bad girl ate it 
herself. " Oh ! " she said, "how good it was ! " She swept 
and found a great deal of dirt. " Oh, poor me ! My sister 
found so many pretty things ! " The Madonna returned. 
"Have you done what I told you?" "Yes." "Do you 
wish the brass or silver thimble ? " " Oh ! I want the sil- 
ver one ! " She gave her the brass one. " Do you want 
the calico dress or the silk one ? " " Give me the silk 
dress." She gave her the calico dress. "Here is your 
bucket and cord. When you are out of here, look up into 
the air." When she was out she looked up into the air and 
there fell on her forehead a lump of dirt that soiled her 
whole face. She went home in a rage to weep and scold 
her sister because she had had the star, while she had that 
dirt on her face. Her mother began to wash her face and 
rub it ; and the -more she did so the less the dirt went 
away. Then the mother said : " I understand ; the Ma- 
donna has done this to show me that I loved the bad girl 
and neglected the good one." 2 

In other versions (mentioned in the note to the above 
story) the two sisters receive different gifts from the fairies. 
In a Sicilian tale (Pitre, No. 62) it is the children of un- 
like sisters who receive the gifts : the one, beauty. When 
she combs her hair jewels fall from it; when she washes 
the water becomes full of fishes ; when she opens her 
mouth flowers fall out ; her cheeks are like apples ; and 
finally she can finish her work in a short time. The cousin 
receives, of course, gifts the very reverse of the above. 
The story ends with the trait of " True Bride," mentioned 
at length in Chapter I. 

There is still a third version of the above story, which is 
popular in many lands. The following example is from 
Florence (Nov.fiov. p. 559), and is entitled : 



FAIRY TALES. 103 

XXVII. THE TWO HUMPBACKS. 

There were once two companions who were humpbacks, 
but one more so than the other. They were both so poor 
that they had not a penny to their names. One of them 
said : " I will go out into the world, for here there is noth- 
ing to eat ; we are dying of hunger. I want to see whether 
I can make my fortune." " Go," said the other. " If you 
make your fortune, return, and I will go and see if I can 
make mine." So the humpback set off on his journey. 
Now these two humpbacks were from Parma. When the 
humpback had gone a long way, he came to a square 
where there was a fair, at which everything was sold. 
There was a person selling cheese, who cried out : " Eat 
the little Parmesan ! " The poor humpback thought he 
meant him, so he ran away and hid himself in a court- 
yard. When it was one o'clock, he heard a clanking of 
chains and the words " Saturday and Sunday " repeated 
several times. Then he answered : " And Monday." " Oh, 
heavens ! " said they who were singing. "Who is this who 
has harmonized with our choir ? " They searched and 
found the poor humpback hidden. " O gentlemen ! " he 
said, " I have not come here to do any harm, you know ! " 
" Well ! we have come to reward you ; you have harmonized 
our choir ; come with us ! " They put him on a table and 
removed his hump, healed him, and gave him two bags of 
money. " Now," they said, " you can go." He thanked 
them and went away without his hump. He liked it bet- 
ter, you can believe ! He returned to his place at Parma, 
and when the other humpback saw him he exclaimed : 
"Does not that look just like my friend ? But he had a 
hump ! It is not he ! Listen ! You are not my friend so 
and so, are you ? " " Yes, I am," he replied. " Listen ! 
Were you not a humpback ? " " Yes. They have removed 
my hump and given me two bags of money. I will tell you 
why. I reached," he continued, " such and such a place, 
and I heard them beginning to say, ' Eat the little Parme- 
san ! eat the little Parmesan ! ' I was so frightened that I 



104 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

hid myself." (He mentioned the place — in a court-yard.) 
" At a certain hour, I heard a noise of chains and a chorus 
singing : ' Sattcrday and Sunday' After two or three 
times, I said: 'And Monday.' They came and found me, 
saying that I had harmonized their chorus, and they wanted 
to reward me. They took me, removed my hump, and gave 
me two bags of money." " Oh, heavens ! " said the other 
humpback. " I want to go there, too ! " " Go, poor fellow, 
go ! farewell ! " The humpback reached the place, and hid 
himself precisely where his companion had. After a while 
he heard a noise of chains, and the chorus : " Saturday and 
Sunday ! " Then another chorus : "And Monday ! " After 
the humpback had heard them repeat : " Saturday and 
Sunday, and Monday ! " several times, he added : " And 
Tuesday ! " " Where," they exclaimed, " is he who has 
spoiled our chorus ? If we find him, we will tear him in 
pieces." Just think ! they struck and beat this poor hump- 
back until they were tired ; then they put him on the same 
table on which they had placed his companion, and said : 
" Take that hump and put it on him in front." So they 
took the other's hump and fastened it to his breast, and 
then drove him away with blows. He went home and 
found his friend, who cried : " Mercy ! is not that my 
friend ? but it cannot be, for this one is humpbacked in 
front. Listen," he said, "are you not my friend ? " "The 
same," he answered, weeping. "I did not want to bear my 
own hump, and now I have to carry mine and yours ! and 
so beaten and reduced, you see ! " " Come," said his friend, 
" come home with me, and we will eat a mouthful together ; 
and don't be disheartened." And so, every day, he dined 
with his friend, and afterward they died, I imagine. 3 

There are a number of Sicilian stories in which one's fate 
is personified and appears in the role of a guardian angel, 
or good and bad fairy. In the same way fortune is personi- 
fied in several stories. The best example of the former class, 
which has also a point of contact with the latter, is found in 
Gonzenbach, No. 21, and is entitled: 



FAIRY TALES. IO5 

XXVIII. THE STORY OF CATHERINE AND HER FATE. 

There was once a merchant who was very rich and had 
greater treasures than the king. In his reception room 
stood three wonderfully beautiful seats. One was of silver, 
the second of gold, and the third of diamonds. This mer- 
chant had an only daughter, whose name was Catherine, and 
who was fairer than the sun. 

One day as Catherine was sitting in her chamber, the 
door suddenly opened of itself, and there entered a tall, 
beautiful lady, who held in her hand a wheel. " Catherine," 
said she, " when would you rather enjoy your life, in youth 
or in old age ? " Catherine gazed at her in amazement, and 
could make no answer. The beautiful lady again asked : 
" Catherine, when would you rather enjoy your life, in youth 
or in old age ? " Then thought Catherine : " If I say in 
youth, I must suffer for it in old age ; wherefore I will 
rather enjoy my life in old age, and in youth God's will be 
done." So she answered : "In old age." "Be it as you 
have wished," said the beautiful woman, turned her wheel 
once, and disappeared. Now this beautiful tall lady was 
poor Catherine's Fate. 

A few days later, her father suddenly received news that 
some of his ships had been wrecked in a storm ; a few days 
after, he learned that several more of his ships had foun- 
dered ; and to cut the matter short, scarcely a month had 
passed when he was himself deprived of all his riches. He 
had to sell all that he had, and this, too, he lost, until at 
last he remained poor and wretched. From grief he fell ill 
and died. 

So poor Catherine remained all alone in the world, with- 
out a penny, and with no one to give her shelter. She 
thought : " I will go to another city and seek me a place 
there." So she set out and walked until she came to an- 
other city. As she was going through the streets a noble 
lady happened to be standing by the window, and asked 
her : " Where are you going, all alone, pretty maiden ? " 
" Ah ! noble lady, I am a poor girl, and would like to find a 



106 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

place to earn my bread. Can you not find use for me ? " 
So the noble lady received her, and Catherine served her 
faithfully. 

Some days later the lady said one evening : " Catherine, 
I must go out for a time, and will lock the house door." 
"Very well," said Catherine, and after her mistress had 
gone she took her work and sat down and sewed. Suddenly 
the door opened, and her Fate entered. " So ? " she cried, 
"are you here, Catherine? and do you think now that I 
am going to leave you in peace ? " With these words, her 
Fate ran to all the cupboards, dragged out the linen and 
clothes of Catherine's mistress, and tore everything into a 
thousand pieces. Catherine thought : " Woe is me if my 
mistress returns and finds everything in this condition ; she 
will certainly kill me ! " And in her anguish she opened 
the door and fled. Her Fate, however, gathered up all the 
torn and ruined things, made them whole, and laid them 
away in their places. When the mistress returned she called 
Catherine, but Catherine was nowhere to be seen. " Can 
she have robbed me ? " she thought ; but when she looked 
about, nothing was gone. She was very much astonished, 
but Catherine did not return, but hastened on until she 
came to another city. As she was passing through the 
streets, another lady, standing by the window, asked her : 
" Where are you going, all alone, pretty maiden ? " " Ah ! 
noble lady, I am a poor girl, and would like a place to earn 
my bread. Can you not make use of me ? " Then the lady 
took her in, and Catherine served her and thought now she 
could rest in peace. It lasted, however, but a few days. 
One evening, when her mistress was out, her Fate appeared 
again and addressed her harshly : " So, here you are now ? 
Do you think you can escape me ? " Then the Fate tore 
and destroyed everything that it found, so that poor Cath- 
erine again fled, in her anguish of heart. To cut the matter 
short, poor Catherine led this frightful life seven years, fly- 
ing from one city to another, and everywhere attempting to 
find a place. Her Fate always appeared after a few days, 
and tore and destroyed her employers' things, so that the 



FAIRY TALES. 107 

poor girl had to flee. As soon as she had left the house the 
Fate restored everything and put it in its place. 

Finally, after seven years, her Fate seemed weary of al- 
ways persecuting the unfortunate Catherine. One day 
Catherine came again to a city and saw a lady standing at 
a window, who asked her : " Where are you going, all alone, 
pretty girl ? " " Ah ! noble lady, I am a poor girl, and 
would like to find a place to earn my bread. Can you not 
find use for me ? " The lady answered : " I will give you a 
place willingly, but you must perform daily a service, and I 
do not know whether you have strength for it." "Tell me 
what it is," said Catherine, " and if I can, I will do it." 
" Do you see yonder high mountain ? " asked the lady. 
" Every morning you must carry up there a large board 
covered with fresh bread, and cry with a loud voice : ' O 
my mistress' Fate ! O my mistress' Fate ! O my mistress' 
Fate ! ' thrice. Then my Fate will appear and receive the 
bread." "I will do that willingly," said Catherine, and the 
lady took her into her service. 

Now Catherine remained years with this lady, and every 
morning she took a board with fresh bread and carried it 
up the mountain, and when she had called three times : 
" O my mistress' Fate ! " there appeared a beautiful tall 
lady, who received the bread. Catherine often wept when 
she thought that she, who had once been so rich, must now 
serve like a poor maid. One day her mistress said to her : 
"Catherine, why do you weep so much ? " Then Catherine 
told her how ill it had fared with her, and her mistress said : 
" I will tell you what, Catherine, when you take the bread 
to the mountain to-morrow, ask my Fate to try and per- 
suade your Fate to leave you now in peace. Perhaps that 
will do some good." This advice pleased poor Catherine, 
and the next morning, after she had taken the bread to her 
mistress' Fate, she disclosed her trouble to her, and said : 
" O my mistress' Fate, beg my Fate to persecute me no 
longer." Then the Fate answered: "Ah, poor girl, your 
Fate is just now covered with seven coverlets, so that she 
cannot hear you ; but when you come to-morrow I will take 



108 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

you to her." After Catherine had returned home, her mis- 
tress' Fate went to the young girl's Fate and said : " Dear 
sister, why are you never weary of making poor Catherine 
suffer ? Permit her again to see some happy days." The 
Fate answered : " Bring her to me to-morrow and I will 
give her something that will help her out of all her trouble." 
When Catherine brought the bread the next morning, her 
mistress' Fate conducted her to her own Fate, who was 
covered with seven coverlets. Her Fate gave her a small 
skein of silk, and said : " Preserve it carefully ; it will be of 
use to you." Then Catherine went home and said to her 
mistress : " My Fate has given me a little skein of silk ; what 
shall I do with it ? It is not worth three grant." "Well," 
said her mistress, " preserve it ; who knows of what use it 
may be ? " 

Now it happened, some time after this, that the young 
king was to marry, and on that account had royal garments 
made for himself. As the tailor was about to sew a beauti- 
ful dress, there was no silk of the same color to be found. 
So the king proclaimed throughout the whole land that 
whoever had such silk should bring it to the court and 
would be well rewarded. " Catherine," said her mistress, 
" your skein is of that color ; take it to the king so that he 
may make you a handsome present." Then Catherine put 
on her best clothes, and went to the Court ; and when she 
appeared before the king, she was so beautiful that he could 
not keep his eyes from her. " Royal Majesty," said she, 
" I have brought you a little skein of silk, of the color that 
could not be found." "I will tell you what, royal Majesty," 
cried one of his ministers, " we will pay the maiden for the 
silk with its weight in gold." The king was satisfied and 
they brought a balance ; in one scale the king laid the silk, 
in the other, a gold coin. Now just imagine what happened : 
no matter how many gold coins the king laid in the scale, 
the silk was always heavier. Then the king had a larger 
balance brought, and threw all his treasures into the scale, 
but the silk still weighed the more. Then the king at last 
took his crown from his head and placed it with all the 



FAIRY TALES. IO9 

other treasures, and behold ! the scale with gold sank and 
weighed exactly as much as the silk. " Where did you get 
this silk?" asked the king. "Royal Majesty, it was a 
present from my mistress," answered Catherine. " No, 
that is impossible," cried the king. " If you do not tell me 
the truth, I will have your head cut off." Then Catherine 
related all that had happened to her since she was a rich 
maiden. 

Now there lived at the court a wise lady, who said : 
" Catherine, you have suffered much, but you will now see 
happy days ; and that it was not until the golden crown was 
put in the scale that the balance was even, is a sign that 
you will be a queen." " If she is to be a queen," cried the 
king, " I will make her one, for Catherine and none other 
shall be my wife." And so it was ; the king informed his 
betrothed that he no longer wished her, and married the 
fair Catherine. And after Catherine in her youth had suf- 
fered so much, she enjoyed nothing but happiness in her 
old age, and was happy and contented. 4 

In the class of stories of which " The Bucket " is an ex- 
ample, we have seen the good sister rewarded, and the 
naughty one punished. Another well-known moral story 
is the one in which a king's daughter is punished for her 
pride, in refusing to marry a suitable lover, by being made 
to marry the first one who asks her hand. This is the case 
in the Grimm story " King Thrush-Beard," or rather the 
king gives his proud daughter to the first beggar who comes 
to the palace gate. The same occurs in one of the Italian 
versions of this story, but usually the haughty princess, 
after refusing a noble suitor, either falls in love with the 
same suitor, who has disguised himself as a person of igno- 
ble rank, or she sells herself to the disguised lover for some 
finery with which he tempts her. At all events, her pride 
is thoroughly humbled. An example of the more common 
version is found in Coronedi-Berti's Bolognese tales (No. 
1 5), and is as follows : 



1 10 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

XXIX. THE CRUMB IN THE BEARD. 

There was once a king who had a daughter whose name 
was Stella. She was indescribably beautiful, but was so 
whimsical and hard to please that she drove her father 
to despair. There had been princes and kings who had 
sought her in marriage, but she had found defects in them 
all and would have none of them. She kept advancing in 
years, and her father began to despair of knowing to whom 
he should leave his crown. So he summoned his council, 
and discussed the matter, and was advised to give a great 
banquet, to which he should invite all the princes and 
kings of the surrounding countries, for, as they said, there 
cannot fail to be among so many, some one who should 
please the princess, who was to hide behind a door, so that 
she could examine them all as she pleased. When the 
king heard this advice, he gave the orders necessary for 
the banquet, and then called his daughter, and said : " Lis- 
ten, my little Stella, I have thought to do so and so, to see 
if I can find any one to please you ; behold, my daughter, 
my hair is white, and I must have some one to leave my 
crown to." Stella bowed her head, saying that she would 
take care to please him. Princes and kings then began to 
arrive at the court, and when it was time for the banquet, 
they all seated themselves at the table. You can imagine 
what sort of a banquet that was, and how the hall was 
adorned : gold and silver shone from all their necks ; in 
the four corners of the room were four fountains, which 
continually sent forth wine and the most exquisite per- 
fumes. While the gentlemen were eating, Stella was be- 
hind a door, as has been said, and one of her maids, who 
was near by, pointed out to her now this one, now that one. 
"See, your Majesty, what a handsome youth that is there." 
"Yes, but he has too large a nose." "And the one near 
your father ? " " He has eyes that look like saucers." 
" And that other at the head of the table ? " " He has too 
large a mouth ; he looks as if he liked to eat." In short, she 
found fault with all but one, who, she said, pleased her, but 



FAIRY TALES. Ill 

that he must be a very dirty fellow, for he had a crumb on 
his beard after eating. The youth heard her say this, and 
swore vengeance. You must know that he was the son of 
the king of Green Hill, and the handsomest youth that 
could be seen. When the banquet was finished and the 
guests had departed, the king called Stella and asked : 
" What news have you, my child ? " She replied, that the 
only one who pleased her was the one with the crumb in 
his beard, but that she believed him to be a dirty fellow and 
did not want him. " Take care, my daughter, you will re- 
pent it," answered her father, and turned away. 

You must know that Stella's chamber looked into a 
court-yard into which opened the shop of a baker. One 
night, while she was preparing to retire, she heard, in the 
room where they sifted the meal, some one singing so well 
and with so much grace that it went to her heart. She ran 
to the window and listened until he finished. Then she 
began to ask her maid who the person with the beautiful 
voice could be, saying she would like to know. " Leave it 
to me, your Majesty," said the maid; "I will inform you 
to-morrow." Stella could not wait for the next day ; and, 
indeed, early the next day she learned that the one who 
sang was the sifter. That evening she heard him sing 
again, and stood by the window until everything became 
quiet. But that voice had so touched her heart that she 
told her maid that the next day she would try and see who 
had that fine voice. In the morning she placed herself by 
the window, and soon saw the youth come forth. She was 
enchanted by his beauty as soon as she saw him, and fell 
desperately in love with him. 

Now you must know that this was none other than the 
prince who was at the banquet, and whom Stella had called 
" dirty." So he had disguised himself in such a way that 
she could not recognize him, and was meanwhile preparing 
his revenge. After he had seen her once or twice he began 
to take off his hat and salute her. She smiled at him, and 
appeared at the window every moment. Then they began 
to exchange words, and in the evening he sang under her 



112 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

window. In short, they began to make love in good earnest, 
and when he learned that she was free, he began to talk 
about marrying her. She consented at once, but asked him 
what he had to live on. " I have n't a penny," said he ; "the 
little I earn is hardly enough to feed me." Stella encour- 
aged him, saying that she would give him all the money and 
things he wanted. To punish Stella for her pride, her fa- 
ther and the prince's father had an understanding, and pre- 
tended not to know about this love affair, and let her carry 
away from the palace all she owned. During the day Stella 
did nothing but make a great bundle of clothes, of silver, 
and of money, and at night the disguised prince came under 
the balcony, and she threw it down to him. Things went 
on in this manner some time, and finally one evening he 
said to her: "Listen. The time has come to elope." Stella 
could not wait for the hour, and the next night she quietly 
tied a cord about her and let herself down from the window. 
The prince aided her to the ground, and then took her arm 
and hastened away. He led her a long ways to another 
city, where he turned down a street and opened the first 
door he met. They went down a long passage ; finally 
they reached a little door, which he opened, and they found 
themselves in a hole of a place which had only one window, 
high up. The furniture consisted of a straw bed, a bench, 
and a dirty table. You can imagine that when Stella saw 
herself in this place she thought she should die. When 
the prince saw her so amazed, he said : " What is the mat- 
ter ? Does the house not please you ? Do you not know 
that I am a poor man ? Have you been deceived ? " " What 
have you done with all the things I gave you ? " " Oh, I 
had many debts, and I have paid them, and then I have done 
with the rest what seemed good to me. You must make 
up your mind to work and gain your bread as I have done. 
You must know that I am a porter of the king of this city, 
and I often go and work at the palace. To-morrow, they 
have told me, the washing is to be done, so you must rise 
early and go with me there. I will set you to work with 
the other women, and when it is time for them to go home 



FAIRY TALES. 113 

to dinner, you will say that you are not hungry, and while 
you are alone, steal two shirts, conceal them under your 
skirt, and carry them home to me." Poor Stella wept bit- 
terly, saying it was impossible for her to do that ; but her 
husband replied : " Do what I say, or I shall beat you." 
The next morning her husband rose with the dawn, and 
made her get up, too. He had bought her a striped skirt 
and a pair of coarse shoes, which he made her put on, 
and then took her to the palace with him, conducted her 
to the laundry and left her, after he had introduced her 
as his wife, saying that she should remember what awaited 
her at home. Then the prince ran and dressed himself 
like a king, and waited at the gate of the palace until it was 
time for his wife to come. Meanwhile poor Stella did as 
her husband had commanded, and stole the shirts. As she 
was leaving the palace, she met the king, who said : " Pretty 
girl, you are our porter's wife, are you not ? " Then he 
asked her what she had under her skirt, and shook her until 
the shirts dropped out, and the king cried : " See there ! 
the porter's wife is a thief ; she has stolen some shirts." 
Poor Stella ran home in tears, and her husband followed her 
when he had put on his disguise again. When he reached 
home Stella told him all that had happened and begged 
him not to send her to the palace again ; but he told her 
that the next day they were to bake, and she must go into 
the kitchen and help, and steal a piece of dough. Every- 
thing happened as on the previous day. Stella's theft was 
discovered, and when her husband returned he found her 
crying like a condemned soul, and swearing that she had 
rather be killed than go to the palace again. He told her, 
however, that the king's son was to be married the next 
day, and that there was to be a great banquet, and she must 
go into the kitchen and wash the dishes. He added that 
when she had the chance she must steal a pot of broth and 
hide it about her so that no one should see it. She had to 
do as she was told, and had scarcely concealed the pot when 
the king's son .came into the kitchen and told his wife she 
must come to the ball that had followed the banquet. She 



1 14 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

did not wish to go, but he took her by the arm and led her 
into the midst of the festival. Imagine how the poor woman 
felt at that ball, dressed as she was, and with the pot of 
broth! The king began to poke his sword at her in jest, 
until he hit the pot, and all the broth ran on the floor. 
Then all began to jeer her and laugh, until poor Stella 
fainted away from shame, and they had to go and get some 
vinegar to revive her. At last the king's mother came for- 
ward and said : " Enough ; you have revenged yourself suf- 
ficiently." Then turning to Stella : " Know that this is 
your mother, and that he has done this to correct your 
pride and to be avenged on you for calling him dirty." 
Then she took her by the arm and led her to another room, 
where her maids dressed her as a queen. Her father and 
mother then appeared and kissed and embraced her. Her 
husband begged her pardon for what he had done, and they 
made peace and always lived in harmony. From that day 
on she was never haughty, and had learned to her cost 
that pride is the greatest fault. 5 

A curious feature in Italian stories is the part played by 
dolls or puppets. They sometimes serve to represent an 
absent mistress, or to take her place and receive the brunt 
of the husband's anger. The most peculiar of these doll- 
stories are found in the south of Italy ; the one that fol- 
lows is from Naples {Nov. fior. p. 333) and is entitled : 

XXX. THE FAIRY ORLANDA. 

There was once a merchant who had no children. He 
was obliged to go away for merchandise. His wife said to 
him : " Here is a ring ; put it on your finger. You must 
bring me a doll as large as I am ; one that can move, sew, 
and dress herself. If you forget, this ring will turn red, 
and your steamer will go neither forward nor backward." 
And so it happened. He forgot the doll, embarked on the 
steamer, and it would not move. The pilot said : " Sir, 
have you forgotten anything ? " to all the gentlemen who 



FAIRY TALES. 115 

were there. "No, sir; nothing." At the end of the 
steamer was this merchant. "Sir, have you forgotten any- 
thing ; for the steamer cannot move ? " He looked at his 
hand and replied : " Yes, I have forgotten something — my 
wife's doll." He landed, got the doll, reembarked, and the 
steamer continued its way. On his arrival at Naples, he 
carried the doll to his wife, well dressed and elegant ; it 
seemed like a very handsome young girl. His wife, well 
pleased, talked to the doll, and they both worked near the 
balcony. Opposite lived a king's son, who fell in love with 
the doll, and became ill from his passion. The queen, who 
saw that her son was ill, asked : " My son, what is the mat- 
ter with you ? Tell your mamma. To-day or to-morrow we 
die, and you reign ; and if you take an illness and die, who 
will reign ? " He answered : " Mamma, I have taken this ill- 
ness because there is a young girl, the daughter of the mer- 
chant who lives opposite, who is so beautiful that she has 
enamored me." The queen said : " Yes, my son, I shall 
marry you to her. Were she the daughter of a scavenger, 
you shall marry her." " You would do a good thing. Now 
let us send for the merchant." They sent a servant to the 
merchant's house. " Her Majesty wishes you at the pal- 
ace ! " " What does she want ? " " She must speak with 
you." The merchant went to the palace, and asked : 
" Majesty, what do you wish ? " " Have you a daughter ? " 
" No, Majesty." " What do you mean ? My son has 
fallen ill from the love he has conceived for your daugh- 
ter." "Your Majesty, I tell you it is a doll, and not a 
human being." " I don't want to hear nonsense ! If you 
don't present your daughter to me in a fortnight, your 
head will fall under the guillotine." (Do you not know 
what the guillotine is ? It is the gallows. He was to be 
hung if he did not take her his daughter within a fort- 
night.) The merchant went home, weeping. His wife 
said : " What is the matter ; what has the king said to you 
at the palace, to make you weep ? " " Can you not guess 
what has happened to me ? The king's son has fallen ill 
for the sake of the doll you have ! " " He has fallen ill ? 



Il6 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

did he not see that it was a doll ? " " He would not believe 
it, and says it is my daughter, and that if I do not bring 
her to him within a fortnight, my head will fall under the 
guillotine." "Well," said his wife, "take the doll, and 
carry her out into the country, and see what will happen." 
He did so, and while he was going along, all confused, he 
met an old man who asked him : " Merchant, what are you 
doing ? " " Ah, my old man, why should I tell you ? " " I 
know all." Then said the merchant: "Since you know 
all, find some remedy for my life." The old man said : 
" Exactly. Go to such and such a place, where there is a 
fairy, who is called the fairy Orlanda. She has a palace 
with no doorkeeper, and no stairway. Here is a violin and 
a silk ladder. When you reach this palace, begin to play. 
The fairy and all her twelve maidens will appear at the win- 
dow. This fairy Orlanda can give you help." 

The merchant continued his journey, and found the pal- 
ace without a doorkeeper, and with no stairway. He be- 
gan to play the violin, and the fairy and all her twelve dam- 
sels appeared and said : " What do you want that you call 
us ? " " Ah ! fairy Orlanda, help me ! " " What help do 
you want ? " "I have this doll, and the king's son has 
fallen in love with it, and is ill. What shall I do ? If I do 
not present her to him in a fortnight my head will be cut 
off." The fairy Orlanda said: "Put this ladder to the 
wall. Give me the doll. Wait two hours and I will give 
her back to you again." He waited two hours and then 
the fairy appeared : " Here is your daughter. She will 
speak to all, to the king, to the queen, but not to the 
prince. Farewell." The fairy Orlanda disappeared within, 
and the merchant departed with his daughter. He took 
her home to his wife. The doll said : "Mamma, how do 
you do?" "I am very well, my daughter. Where have 
you been ? " "I have been into the country with papa, 
and now I have returned." In a fortnight the merchant 
dressed her elegantly and carried her to the palace. As 
soon as the king saw her he said to the queen : " My son 
was right ; she is a beautiful girl ! " She went into the 



FAIRY TALES. 117 

gallery and spoke with the king and queen, but did not 
speak to the prince. The mortified prince thought : " She 
speaks to papa, she speaks to mamma, but not to me ! 
What does it mean ? Perhaps she does not speak to me 
from embarrassment." They were married, but even then 
she did not speak to him. So the prince was obliged to 
separate from her, and they lived in two rooms apart. The 
prince, meanwhile, courted another princess. One morn- 
ing, while he was breakfasting with his sweetheart, his wife 
called a servant : " Come here ; is the prince at table ? " 
" Yes, Highness." "Wait!" She cutoff her two hands 
and put them in the oven, and there came out a roast, with 
ten sausages. " Carry these to the prince." " Prince, the 
princess sends you this." He asked : " How was it made ? " 
The servant replied : " Prince, she cut off her two hands 
and put them in the oven. She amazed me." "Enough," 
said the prince, " let us eat them." His sweetheart said : 
" I can do it, too." So she cut off her hands and put them 
in the oven ; but they were burned and she died. " Oh, 
what have you done to me ! you have killed one for me ! " 
said the prince. After a time he made love to another. 
The first time he sat at table with her, the princess called 
another servant : " Servant, where are you going ? " "I am 
going, Majesty, to the prince's table." "Wait ! " She cut 
off her arms, and put them in the oven, and there came out 
a roast, with two blood-puddings. She said: "Carry it to 
the prince, at table." " Prince ! " " Go away, I don't want 
to hear any nonsense." " But listen ; let me tell you ! " 
" Well, tell away." So the servant told how the princess had 
cut off her arms (which had grown out again) and put them 
in the oven, and the roast and puddings had come out. The 
second sweetheart tried to do the same and died. After a 
while the prince fell in love with another, and the same 
thing was repeated. The princess cut off her legs and put 
them in the oven, and a large roast came out, with two 
larded hams. The third sweetheart tried to do the same, 
and died like the others. Then the prince said : " Ah ! she 
has done it to three for me ! Unhappy me ! I will not 
make love to any more." 



Il8 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

During the night when the princess had gone to bed, the 
lamp said : " Lady, I want to drink." " Oil-cruet, give the 
lamp a drink." "Lady, it has hurt me." " Oil-cruet, why 
did you hurt the lamp ? How beautiful is the fairy Or- 
landa ! How beautiful is the fairy Orlanda ! How beauti- 
ful is the fairy Orlanda ! " So she did all night until day. 
All these things were enchanted : the lamp and the oil- 
cruet. The prince, who heard it, said one day to a servant : 
"This evening you must enter the princess' room. You 
must spend the night under her bed. You must see what 
she does in the night." The servant did so, and the same 
thing was repeated with the lamp and the oil-cruet. The 
servant told the prince, who said: "To-night, I will go." 
At night he crept under his wife's bed. The same thing 
was repeated. The lamp said : " Lady, I want to drink! " 
"Oil-cruet, give the lamp a drink." "Lady, it has hurt 
me." " Oil-cruet, why have you hurt the lamp ? How beau- 
tiful is the fairy Orlanda ! " The whole night she repeated : 
" How beautiful is the fairy Orlanda ! " The prince re- 
sponded : "Blessed be the fairy Orlanda!" "Ah!" said 
the princess, " did it need so much to say a word ? " Then 
they embraced and kissed each other, and remained con- 
tented and happy. 6 

We now pass to an amusing class of stories, in which the 
hero comes in possession of enchanted objects and loses 
them, finally regaining them in various ways. There are 
three versions of this class. In the first, the hero loses 
the objects by the cunning of a woman, and regains them 
by means of two kinds of fruits, one of which produces 
some bodily defect and the other cures it. In the second, 
the episode of the fruits is wanting, and the owner regains 
his property either by preventing the princess from cheat- 
ing him at play or by making her fall in love with him. In 
the third, a person (usually a landlord) substitutes worthless 
objects for two enchanted ones, which are recovered by 
means of a third magic object (usually a stick), which beats 
until the stolen property is restored. 7 



FAIRY TALES. H9 

To illustrate the first version, we will give a Sicilian story 
from Gonzenbach (No. 31), which is entitled : 



XXXI. THE SHEPHERD WHO MADE THE KING'S 
DAUGHTER LAUGH. 

There was once a king and a queen who had an only 
daughter, whom they loved very dearly. When she was fif- 
teen years old she became suddenly very sad and would not 
laugh any more. So the king issued a proclamation that 
whoever made his daughter laugh, whether he were a prince, 
peasant, or beggar, should become her husband. Many made 
the attempt, but none succeeded. Now there was a poor 
woman who had an only son, who was idle and would not 
learn any trade ; so finally his mother sent him to a farmer 
to keep his sheep. One day, as he was driving the sheep 
over the fields, he came to a well, and bent over it to drink. 
As he did so he saw a handsome ring on the wheel, and as 
it pleased him, he put it on the ring finger of his right 
hand. He had scarcely put it on, however, when he began 
to sneeze violently, and could not stop until he had acci- 
dentally removed the ring. Then his sneezing ceased as 
suddenly as it had begun. " Oh ! " thought he, " if the ring 
has this virtue, I had better try my fortune with it, and 
see whether it will not make the king's daughter laugh." 
So he put the ring on his left hand, and no longer had to 
sneeze. Then he drove the sheep home, took leave of his 
master, and set out toward the city where the king lived. 
He was obliged, however, to pass through a dense forest 
which was so extensive that it grew dark before he left it. 
He thought: "If the robbers find me here they will take 
away my ring, and then I should be a ruined man. I would 
rather climb a tree and spend the night there." So he 
climbed a tree, tied himself fast with his belt, and soon fell 
asleep. Before long, thirteen robbers came and sat down 
under the tree, and talked so loud that the shepherd awoke. 
The captain of the robbers said : " Let each relate what he 
has accomplished to-day ; " and each exhibited what he had 



120 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

taken. The thirteenth, however, pulled out a tablecloth, a 
purse, and a whistle, and said : " I have gained to-day the 
greatest treasures, for these three things I have taken from 
a monk, and each of them has a particular virtue. If any- 
one spreads out the tablecloth and says : ' My little table- 
cloth, give me macaroni, or roast meat,' or whatever one 
will, he will find everything there immediately. Likewise 
the purse will give all the money one wants ; and whoever 
hears the whistle must dance whether he will or no." The 
robbers at once put the power of the tablecloth to the test, 
and then went to sleep, the captain laying the precious arti- 
cles near himself. When they were all snoring hard the shep- 
herd descended, took the three articles, and crept away. 

The next day he came to the city where the king lived, 
and went straight to the palace. " Announce me to the 
king," said he to the servants ; " I will try to make the 
king's daughter laugh." The servants tried to dissuade 
him, but he insisted on being led before the king, who took 
him into a large room, in which was the king's daughter, 
sitting on a splendid throne and surrounded by the whole 
court. " If I am to make the princess laugh," said the 
shepherd to the king, " you must first do me the kindness to 
put this ring on the ring-finger of your right hand." The 
king had scarcely done so when he began to sneeze vio- 
lently, and could not stop, but ran up and down the room, 
sneezing all the time. The entire court began to laugh, 
and the king's daughter could not stay sober, but had to 
run away laughing. Then the shepherd went up to the 
king, took off the ring, and said : " Your Majesty, I have 
made the princess laugh ; to me belongs the reward." 
" What ! you worthless shepherd ! " cried the king. " You 
have not only made me the laughing-stock of the whole 
court, but now you want my daughter for your wife ! 
Quick ! take the ring from him, and throw him into 
prison." 

While there the wonderful tablecloth provides him and 
his companions with plenty to eat, and when it is discov- 
ered and taken from him by the king's orders, the purse 






FAIRY TALES. 121 

enables them all to live in comfort. That is also discov- 
ered, and nothing is left but the whistle. " Well ! " thought 
the shepherd, " if we can't eat any more, we will at least 
dance ; " and he pulled out his pipe and began to play on 
it, and all the prisoners began to dance, and the guards 
with them, and between them all they made a great noise. 
When the king heard it he came running there with his 
servants, and had to dance like all the rest, but found 
breath enough to order the pipe to be taken away from the 
shepherd, and all became quiet again. 

So now the shepherd had nothing left, and remained in 
prison some time, until he found an old file, and one night 
filed through the iron bars and escaped. He wandered 
about all day, and at last came to the same forest where he 
had formerly been. All at once he saw a large fig-tree 
bearing the most beautiful fruit, — on one side black figs, 
on the other, white ones. " That is something I have never 
seen," thought the shepherd, — "a fig-tree that bears black 
and white figs at the same time. I must try them." 
Scarcely had he tasted them when he felt something move 
on the top of his head, and putting his hand up, found he 
had two long horns. " Unhappy man ! " he cried ; " what 
shall I do?" However, as he was very hungry, he picked 
some of the white figs and ate them, and immediately one 
of the horns disappeared, and also the other after he had 
eaten a few more white figs. " My fortune is made ! " he 
thought. " The king will have to give me all my things 
back, and his daughter in the bargain." 

The shepherd disguised himself and went to the city with 
two baskets of figs, — one of the black and one of the white 
kind, the former of which he sold to the king's cook, whom 
he met in the market place. While the king was at the 
table the servant put the figs before him, and he was much 
pleased with them, and gave some to his wife and daugh- 
ter ; the rest he ate himself. Scarcely had they eaten them 
when they saw with terror the long horns that had grown 
from their heads. The queen and her daughter began to 
weep, and the king, in a rage, called the cook and asked 



122 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

him who had sold him the figs. " A peasant in the mar- 
ket," answered the cook. " Go at once and bring him here," 
cried the king. 

The shepherd had remained near the palace, and as the 
cook came out, he went up to him with the basket of white 
figs in his hand. " What miserable figs did you sell me this 
morning ! " cried out the cook to him. " As soon as the 
king, queen, and princess had eaten your figs, great horns 
grew on their heads." " Be quiet," said the shepherd ; " I 
have a remedy here, and can soon remove the horns. Take 
me to the king." He was led before the king, who asked 
him what kind of figs he had sold. "Be quiet, your Maj- 
esty," said the shepherd, " and eat these figs," at the same 
time giving him a white one ; and as soon as the king had 
eaten it one of the horns disappeared. " Now," said the 
shepherd, " before I give you any more of my figs you must 
give me back my whistle ; if not, you may keep your horn." 
The king in his terror gave up the whistle, and the shep- 
herd handed the queen a fig. When one of the queen's 
horns had disappeared, he said : " Now give me my purse 
back, or else I will take my figs away." So the king gave 
him his purse, and the shepherd removed one of the 
princess' horns. Then he demanded his tablecloth ; and 
when he had received it he gave the king another fig, so 
that the second horn disappeared. " Now give me my 
ring," he said ; and the king had to give him his ring be- 
fore he would remove the queen's horn. The only one left 
now was the princess, and the shepherd said : " Now fulfil 
your promise and marry me to the princess ; otherwise she 
may keep her horn as long as she lives." So the princess 
had to marry him, and after the wedding he gave her an- 
other fig to eat, so that her last horn also disappeared. 
They had a merry wedding, and when the old king died the 
shepherd became kins£ and so they remained contented and 
happy, and we like a bundle of roots. 8 

The second version of this story is represented by but 
three examples, none of them worth giving at length. In 



FAIRY TALES. 1 23 

one (Pomiglianesi, p. no) the princess wins the magic ob- 
jects (purse, cloak that renders invisible, and horn that 
blows out soldiers) at play. The loser disguises himself as 
a priest and confesses the princess when she is ill, and 
makes her give back the objects she has won or stolen. 
In a Florentine version {Nov. fior. p. 349), the owner of 
the objects, a poor shepherd's son, pretends to be the son 
of the king of Portugal. He plays with the princess and 
wins, but his true origin is discovered and he is thrown 
into prison. There he makes use of the magic tablecloth, 
which he sells to the king for the privilege of passing a 
night in the princess' room. The same payment is asked 
for the box that fills itself with money, and the little or- 
gan that makes every one dance. The shepherd, of course, 
becomes the princess' husband and inherits the kingdom 
when the king dies. In the Sicilian story (Pitre, No. 26) 
the fairies give Peter the purse, tablecloth, and violin, 
and he goes to play chess with the daughter of the king of 
Spain, who is to marry whoever beats her at the game. 
She cheats and wins, and Peter is thrown into prison. 
There he uses the tablecloth, and when the princess hears 
of it, she proposes to play for it. Again she cheats by 
changing a- chessman while Peter is looking away, and the 
loser is thrown into prison again. They play again for the 
magic violin, and Peter, who has been warned in prison by 
other losers of the princess' tricks, keeps a sharp lookout, 
detects, and defeats her. They are married, and Peter re- 
leases all the defeated players from jail, and afterward gets 
rid of them by means of the violin. 9 

The third version is the most popular one ; the following 
example of it is from Nerucci's collection of Montalese 
tales (No. 43). 



XXXII. THE ASS THAT LAYS MONEY. 

There was once a poor widow with an only son, and whose 
brother-in-law was a steward. One day she said to her 
child : " Go to your uncle and ask him to give you some- 



124 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

thing to keep you from starving." The boy went to the 
farm and asked his uncle to help him a little. " We are 
dying of hunger, uncle. My mother earns a little by weav- 
ing, and I am too small to find anything. Be charitable to 
us, for we are your relatives." The steward answered : 
" Why not ? You should have come sooner and I would 
have helped you the sooner. But now I will give you some- 
thing to support you always, without need of anything more. 
I will give you this little ass that lays money. You have 
only to put a cloth under him, and he will fill it for you with 
handsome coins. But take care ! Don't tell it, and don't 
leave this animal with any one." The youth departed in 
joy, and after he had travelled a long way, he stopped at an 
inn to sleep, for his house was distant. He said to the 
landlord : " Give me a lodging, but look ! my ass spends the 
night with me." "What!" said the landlord, "what are 
you thinking about ! It cannot be." The youth replied : 
" Yes, it can be, because my ass does not leave my side." 
They disputed a while, but the landlord finally consented ; 
but he had some suspicions ; and when the boy and his 
beast were shut in the room, he looked through the key- 
hole, and saw that wonder of an ass that laid money in 
abundance. " Bless me ! " cried the host. " I should be a 
fool, indeed, if I let this piece of good fortune escape my 
hands ! " He at once looked for another ass of the same 
color and size, and while the lad was asleep, exchanged 
them. In the morning the boy paid his bill and de- 
parted, but on the way, the ass no longer laid any money. 
The. stupefied child did not know what to think at first, but 
afterward examining it more closely, it appeared to him 
that the ass was not his, and straightway he returned to the 
innkeeper, to complain of his deception. The landlord cried 
out : " I wonder at your saying such a thing ! We are all 
honest people here, and don't steal anything from anybody. 
Go away, blockhead, or you will find something to remem- 
ber a while." 

The child, weeping, had to depart with his ass, and he 
went back to his uncle's farm, and told him what had hap- 



FAIRY TALES. 1 25 

pened. The uncle said : " If you had not stopped at the 
innkeeper's, you could not have met with this misfortune. 
However, I have another present to help you and your 
mother. But take care! Do not mention it to any one, and 
take good care of it. Here it is. I give you a tablecloth, 
and whenever you say : ' Tablecloth, make ready] after hav- 
ing spread it out, you will see a fine repast at your pleas- 
ure." The youth took the tablecloth in- delight, thanked 
his uncle, and departed ; but like the fool he was, he 
stopped again at the same inn. He said to the landlord : 
" Give me a room and you need not prepare anything to 
eat. I have all I want with me." The crafty innkeeper 
suspected that there was something beneath this, and when 
the lad was in his room, he looked through the key-hole, 
and saw the tablecloth preparing the supper. The host 
exclaimed : " What good luck for my inn ! I will not let 
it escape me." He quickly looked for another tablecloth 
like this one, with the same embroidery and fringe, and 
while the child was sleeping, he exchanged it for the magic 
one, so that in the morning the lad did not perceive the 
knavery. Not until he had reached a forest where he was 
hungry, did he want to make use of the tablecloth. But 
it was in vain that he spread it out and cried : " Tablecloth, 
make ready." The tablecloth was not the same one, and 
made nothing ready for him. In despair the boy went 
back to the innkeeper to complain, and the landlord would 
have thrashed him if he had not run away, and he ran un- 
til he reached his uncle's. His uncle, when he saw him in 
such a plight, said : " Oh ! what is the matter ? " " Uncle !" 
said the boy, " the same innkeeper has changed the table- 
cloth, too, for me." The uncle was on the point of giving 
the dunce a good thrashing ; but afterward, seeing that it 
was a child, he calmed his anger, and said : " I understand ; 
but I will give you a remedy by which you can get back 
everything from that thief of a landlord. Here it is ! It is 
a stick. Hide it under your bolster ; and if any one comes 
to rob you of it, say to it, in a low voice : ' Beat, beat ! ' and 
it will continue to do so until you say to it, ' Stop.' " 



126 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Imagine how joyfully the boy took the stick ! It was a 
handsome polished stick, with a gold handle, and delighted 
one only to see it. So the boy thanked his uncle for his 
kindness, and after he had journeyed a while, he came to 
the same inn. He said : " Landlord, I wish to lodge here 
to-night." The landlord at once drew his conclusions 
about the stick, which the boy carried openly in his hands, 
and at night when the lad appeared to be sound asleep, but 
really was on the watch, the landlord felt softly under the 
bolster and drew out the stick. The boy, although it was 
dark, perceived the theft and said in a low voice : " Beat, 
beat, beat ! " Suddenly blows were rained down without 
mercy ; everything broken to pieces, the chest of drawers, the 
looking-glass, all the chairs, the glass in the windows ; and 
the landlord, and those that came at the noise, beaten nearly 
to death. The landlord screamed to split his throat : " Save 
me, boy, I am dead ! " The boy answered : " What ! I 
will not deliver you, if you do not give me back my prop- 
erty, — the ass that lays gold, and the tablecloth that pre- 
pares dinner." And if the landlord did not want to die of 
the blows, he had to consent to the boy's wishes. 

When he had his things back, the boy went home to his 
mother and told her what had happened to him, and then 
said : " Now, we do not need anything more. I have an 
ass that lays money, a tablecloth that prepares food at my 
will, and a stick to defend me from whoever annoys me." 
So that woman and her son, who, from want had become 
rich enough to cause every one envy, wished from pride 
to invite their relatives to a banquet, to make them ac- 
quainted with their wealth. On the appointed day the rela- 
tives came to the woman's new house ; but noon strikes, 
one o'clock strikes, it is almost two, and in the kitchen the 
fire is seen extinguished, and there were no provisions any- 
where. "Are they playing a joke on us?" said the rela- 
tives. " We shall have to depart with dry teeth." At that 
moment, however, the clock struck two, and the lad, after 
spreading the cloth on the table, commanded : " Tablecloth, 
prepare a grand banquet." In short, those people had a 



FAIRY TALES. \2J 

fine dinner and many presents in money, and the boy and 
his mother remained in triumph and joy. 10 

The next story to which we shall direct our attention is 
" Puss in Boots," which, in the form known to our children, 
is of French origin, being one of the tales which Perrault 
made so popular by his versions. Before Perrault, how- 
ever, two literary versions of this story existed : one in 
Straparola and one in the Pentamerone. There are, be- 
sides, several popular versions of this story, which are 
somewhat peculiar. The one that follows is from Sicily 
(Pitre, No. 88). 

XXXIII. DON JOSEPH PEAR. 

There were once three brothers who owned a pear-tree 
and lived on the pears. One day one of the brothers went 
to pick these pears, and found that they had been gath- 
ered. " Oh ! my brothers ! what shall we do, for our pears 
have been picked ? " So the eldest went and remained 
in the garden to guard the pear-tree during the night. 
He fell asleep, however, and the next morning the second 
brother came and said : " What have you done, my brother ? 
Have you been sleeping ? Do you not see that the pears 
have been picked ? To-night I will stay." That night 
the second brother remained. The next morning the 
youngest went there and saw more of the pears picked, 
and said : " Were you the one that was going to keep a 
good watch ? Go, I will stay here to-night ; we shall see 
whether they can cheat me to my face." At night the 
youngest brother began to play and dance under the pear- 
tree ; while he was not playing, a fox, believing that the 
youth had gone to sleep, came out and climbed the tree and 
picked the rest of the pears. When it was coming down 
the tree, the youth quickly aimed his gun at it and was 
about to shoot. The fox said : " Don't shoot me, Don 
Joseph ; for I will have you called Don Joseph Pear, and 
will make you marry the king's daughter." Don Joseph 
answered : " And where shall I see you again ? What has 



128 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the king to do with you ? With one kick that he would give 
you, you would never appear before him again." However r 
Don Joseph Pear from pity let her escape. The fox went 
away to a forest and caught all sorts of game, squirrels, 
hares, and quails, and carried them to the king ; so that it 
was a sight. "Sir Majesty, Don Joseph Pear sends me; 
you must accept this game." The king said : " Listen, 
little fox, I accept this game ; but I have never heard this 
Don Joseph Pear mentioned." The fox left the game there, 
and ran away to Don Joseph. " Softly, Don Joseph, I have 
taken the first step ; I have been to the king, and carried 
him the first game ; and he accepted it." 

A week later the fox went to the forest, caught the best 
animals, squirrels, hares, birds, and took them to the king. 
" Sir Majesty, Don Joseph Pear sends me to you with this 
game." The king said to the fox : "My daughter, I don't 
know who this Don Joseph Pear is ; I am afraid you have 
been sent somewhere else ! I will tell you what : have this 
Don Joseph Pear come here, so that I can make his ac- 
quaintance." The fox wished to leave the game, and said : 
" I am not mistaken ; my master sent me here ; and for a 
token, he said that he wished the princess for his wife." 

The fox returned to Don Joseph Pear, and said to him : 
" Softly, things are going well ; after I have been to the 
king again, the matter is settled." Don Joseph said : " I 
will not believe you until I have my wife." 

The fox now went to an ogress and said : " Friend, 
friend, have we not to divide the gold and silver ? " " Cer- 
tainly," said the ogress to the fox ; " go -and get the meas- 
ure and we will divide the gold from the silver." The fox 
went to the king and did not say : " The ogress wants to 
borrow your measure ; " but she said : " Don Joseph Pear 
wants to borrow, for a short time, your measure to separate 
the gold from the silver." " What ! " said the king, " has 
this Don Joseph Pear such great riches ? Is he then 
richer than I ? " And he gave the fox the measure. 
When he was alone with his daughter he said to her, in the 
course of his conversation : " It must be that this Don 



FAIRY TALES. 1 29 

Joseph Pear is very rich, for he divides the gold and silver." 
The fox carried the measure to. the ogress, who began to 
measure and heap up gold and silver. When she had 
finished, the fox went to Don Joseph Pear and dressed him 
in new clothes, a watch with diamonds, rings, a ring for his 
betrothed, and everything that was needed for the marriage. 
" Behold, Don Joseph," said the fox, " I am going before 
you now ; you go to the king and get your bride and then 
go to the church." Don Joseph went to the king ; got his 
bride, and they went to the church. After they were mar- 
ried, the princess got into the carriage and the bridegroom 
mounted his horse. The fox made a sign to Don Joseph 
and said : " I will go before you ; you follow me and let the 
carriages and horses come after." 

They started on their way, and came to a sheep-farm 
which belonged to the ogress. The boy who was tending 
^the sheep, when he saw the fox approach, threw a stone 
at her, and she began to weep. " Ah ! " she said to the 
boy ; " now I will have you killed. Do you see those horse- 
men ? Now I will have you killed ! " The youth, terrified, 
said : " If you will not do anything to me I will not 
throw any more stones at you." The fox replied : " If you 
don't want to be killed, when the king passes and asks you 
whose is this sheep-farm, you must tell him : ' Don Joseph 
Pear's,' for Don Joseph Pear is his son-in-law, and he will 
reward you." The cavalcade passed by, and the king asked 
the boy : " Whose is this sheep-farm ? " The boy replied 
at once : " Don Joseph Pear's." The king gave him some 
money. 

The fox kept about ten paces before Don Joseph, and the 
latter did nothing but say in a low tone : " Where are you 
taking me, fox ? What lands do I possess that you can 
make me believed to be rich ? Where are we going ? " 
The fox replied : "Softly, Don Joseph, and leave it to me." 
They went on and on, and the fox saw another farm of cat- 
tle, with the herdsman. The same thing happened there 
as with the shepherd : the stone thrown and the fox's 
threat. The king passed. " Herdsman, whose is this farm 
9 



.130 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

of cattle?" " Don Joseph Pear's." And the king, aston- 
ished at his son-in-law's wealth, gave the herdsman a piece 
of gold. 

Don Joseph was pleased on the one hand, but on the 
other was perplexed and did not know how it was to turn 
out. When the fox turned around, Joseph said : "Where 
are you taking me, fox ? You are ruining me." The fox 
kept on as if she had nothing to do with the matter. Then 
she came to another farm of horses and mares. The boy 
who was tending them threw a stone at the fox. She fright- 
ened him, and he told the king, when the king asked him, 
that the farm was Don Joseph Pear's. 

They kept on and came to a well, and near it the ogress 
was sitting. The fox began to run and pretended to be in 
great terror. " Friend, friend, see, they are coming ! These 
horsemen will kill us ! Let us hide in the well, shall we not ? " 
" Yes, friend," said the ogress in alarm. " Shall I throw you 
down first ? " said the fox. " Certainly, friend." Then the 
fox threw the ogress down the well, and then entered the 
ogress' palace. Don Joseph Pear followed the fox, with his 
wife, his father-in-law, and all the riders. The fox showed 
them through all the apartments, displaying the riches, Don 
Joseph Pear contented at having found his fortune, and the 
king still more contented because his daughter was so 
richly settled. There was a festival for a few days, and 
then the king, well satisfied, returned to his own country 
and his daughter remained with her husband. One day the 
fox was looking out of the window, and Don Joseph Pear 
and his wife were going up to the terrace. Don Joseph 
Pear took up a little dust from the terrace and threw it at 
the fox's head. The fox raised her eyes. " What is the 
meaning of this, after the good I have done you, miserable 
fellow ? " said she to Don Joseph. " Take care or I will 
speak ! " The wife said to her husband : " What is the 
matter with the fox, to speak thus ? " " Nothing," answered 
her husband. " I threw a little dust at her and she got 
angry." Don Joseph took up a little more dust and threw 
it at the fox's head. The fox, in a rage, cried : " Joe, you 



FAIRY TALES. 131 

see I will speak ! and I declare that you were the owner of 
a pear-tree ! " Don Joseph was frightened, for the fox told 
his wife everything ; so he took an earthen jar and threw it 
at the fox's head, and so got rid of her. Thus — the un- 
grateful fellow that he was — he killed the one who had 
done him so much kindness ; but nevertheless he enjoyed 
all his wealth with his wife. 11 

The story we shall next consider is, in some of its ver- 
sions, legendary in its nature, and might more properly, 
perhaps, have been treated in chapter IV. Its legendary 
character, however, is only accidental, and it really belongs 
to the class of stories discussed in the present chapter. 
The story in general maybe termed "The Thankful Dead," 
from the most important episode in it. The hero shows 
some respect to a corpse (paying the debts it incurred when 
alive, and so obtaining the right of burial for it), the soul of 
which becomes the hero's good fairy, and assists him when 
in danger, and finally brings about his good fortune. Around 
this nucleus have gathered various episodes, which will be 
mentioned in the notes. As an example of this story, we 
give, on account of its rarity, the Istrian version (Ive, Nozze 
Ive-Lorenzetto, III. p. 19). 

XXXV. FAIR BROW. 

There was once a father who had a son. After this son 
had passed through school, his father said to him : " Son, 
now that you have finished your studies, you are of an age 
to travel. I will give you a vessel, in order that you may 
load it and unload it, buy and sell. Be careful what you 
do ; take care to make gains ! " He gave him six thousand 
scudi to buy merchandise, and the son started on his voy- 
age. On his journey, without having yet purchased any- 
thing; he arrived at a town, and on the sea-shore he saw a 
bier, and noticed that those who passed by left there some 
a penny, some two ; they bestowed alms on the corpse. 
The traveller went there and asked : " Why do you keep 



132 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

this dead man here ? for the dead desires the grave? They 
replied : " Because he owed a world of debts, and it is the 
custom here to bmy no one tmtil his debts are paid. Until 
this man's debts are paid by charity we cannot bury him." 
" What is the use of keeping him here ? " he said. " Pro- 
claim that all those whom he owed shall come to me and be 
paid." Then they issued the proclamation and he paid the 
debts ; and, poor fellow ! he did not have a farthing left — 
not a penny of his capital. So he returned to his father's 
house. " What news, son ? What means your return so 
soon ? " He replied : " On crossing the sea, we encoun- 
tered pirates ; they have robbed me of all my capital ! " 
His father said : " No matter, son ; it is enough that they 
have left you your life. Behold, I will give you more money ; 
but you must not go again in that direction." He gave him 
another six thousand scudi. The son replied : " Yes, father, 
don't worry ; I will change my course." He departed and 
began his journey. When he was well out at sea he saw a 
Turkish vessel. He said to himself: "Now it is better for 
me to summon them on board than for them to summon 
us." They came on board. He said to them: "Whence 
do you come ? " They answered : " We come from the Le- 
vant." "What is your cargo ? " " Nothing but a beauti- 
ful girl." " How do you come to have this girl ? " " For 
her beauty ; to sell her again. We have stolen her from 
the Sultan, she is so beautiful ! " " Let me see this girl." 
When he saw her he said : " How much do you want 
for her ? " " We want six thousand scndi ! " The money 
which his father gave him he gave to those corsairs, and 
took the girl and carried her away to his ship. But he at 
once had her become a Christian and married her. 

He returned to his father's house ; he went up, and his 
father said to him : 

" Welcome ! O my handsome son. 

What merchandise of women have you made ? " 
" My father, I bring you a handsome ring, 

I bring it for your reward ; 

It cost me neither city nor castle, 



FAIRY TALES. 1 33 

But the most beautiful woman you have ever seen : 
The daughter of the Sultan, who is in Turkey, 
Her I bring for my first cargo ! " 

" Ah, you miserable knave ! " cried his father. " Is this the 
cargo you have brought ? " He ill-treated them both, and 
drove them from the house. Those poor unfortunate ones 
did not know where .to find shelter. They went away, and 
at a short distance from their town there were some rooms 
at a villa. They went to live in one of those. He said : 
" What shall we do here ? I do not know how to do any- 
thing; I have no profession or business ! " She said : "Now 
I can paint beautiful pictures ; I will paint them, and you 
shall go and sell them ! " He said : "Very well ! " " But, 
remember, you must tell no one that I paint them ! " " No, 
no ! " he said. 

Now let us go to Turkey. The Sultan, meanwhile, had 
sent out many vessels in search of his daughter. These 
ships went here and there in quest of her. Now it hap- 
pened that one of these vessels arrived in the town near 
where she lived, and many of the sailors went on land. 
Now one day the husband said to his wife : " Make many 
pictures, for to-day we shall sell them ! " She made them, 
and said to him that he should not sell them for less than 
twenty sctidi apiece. She made a great many, and he 
carried them to the public square. Some of the Turks 
came there ; they gave a glance at the paintings, and said 
to themselves : " Surely, it must be the Sultan's daughter 
who has painted these." They came nearer, and asked the 
young man how he sold them. He said they were dear ; 
that he could not let them go for less than twenty scudi. 
They said : " Very well ! we will buy them ; but we want 
some more." He answered : " Come to the house of my 
wife who makes them ! " They went there, and when they 
saw the Sultan's daughter, they seized her, bound her, and 
carried her far away to Turkey. This husband, then, un- 
happy, without wife, without a trade, alone in that house, 
what could he do ? 

Every day he walked along the beach, to see if he could 



1 34 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

find a ship that would take him on board ; but he never 
saw any. One day he saw an old man fishing in a little 
boat ; he cried : " Good old man, how much better off you 
are than I ! " The old man asked : "Why, my dear son ?" 
He said : " Good old man, will you take me to fish with 
you ? " " Yes, my son," said he ; " if you wish to come with 
me in this boat, I will take you ! " " Thank heaven ! " said 
he. " Good ! " said the old man : 

" You with the rod, and I with the boat, 
Perhaps we shall catch some fish. 

I will go and sell the fish, for I am not ashamed, and we 
will live together ! " They ate, and afterward went to sleep ; 
without knowing it, there arose in the night a severe 
storm, and the wind carried them to Turkey. The Turks, 
seeing this boat arrive, went on board, seized them, made 
slaves of them, and took them before the Sultan. He said : 
" Let one of them make bouquets ; let the other plant flow- 
ers ; put them in the garden ! " They placed the old man 
there as gardener, and the young man to carry flowers to 
the Sultan's daughter, who with her maids was shut up in a 
very high tower for punishment. They were very comfort- 
able there. Every day they went into the garden and 
made friends with the other gardeners. As time went on, 
the old man made some fine guitars, violins, flutes, clari- 
onets, piccolos — all sorts of instruments he made. The 
young man played them beautifully when he had time. 
One day his wife, who was in the tower, hearing his fine 
songs, — Fair Brow had a voice which surpassed all instru- 
ments, — said : " Who is playing, who is singing so beauti- 
fully ? " They went out on the balcony, and when she saw 
Fair Brow, she thought at once of having him come up. 
The Sultan's daughter said to one of those who filled the 
basket with flowers: "Put that young man in the basket 
and cover him with flowers ! " He put him in, and the 
maids drew him up. When he was up, he came out of the 
basket, and beheld his wife. He embraced and kissed her 
and thought about escaping from there. Then she told her 
damsels that she wished to depart without any one knowing 



FAIRY TALES. 1 35 

it. So they loaded a large ship with pearls and precious 
stones, with rods of gold and jewels ; then they let down 
Fair Brow first, then his wife ; finally the damsels. They 
embarked and departed. When they were out at sea the 
husband remembered that he had forgotten the old man 
and left him on shore. Fair Brow said : " My sister, even 
if I thought I should lose my life, I would turn back, for 
the word which I have given him is the mother of faith ! " 
So they turned back, and saw the old man, who was still 
awaiting them in a cave ; they took him with them, and put 
to sea again. When they were near home, the old man 
said : " Now, my son, it is fitting for us to settle our ac- 
counts and divide things ! " " Know, good old man," said 
Fair Brow to him, " that all the wealth that I have belongs 
half to you and half to me ! " " Your wife, too, belongs 
half to me ! " He said : " Good old man, I will leave you 
three quarters, and I will take one only, but leave me my 
wife. Do you want me to divide her in two ? " Then the 
old man said : " You must know that I am the soul of him 
whom you had buried ; and you have had all this good for- 
tune because you did that good action, and converted and 
baptized your wife ! " Then he gave him his blessing and 
disappeared. Fair Brow, when he heard this, as you can 
imagine, came near dying of joy. When they reached his 
city, they fired a salute, for Fair Brow had arrived with his 
wife, the wealthiest gentleman in the world. He sent for 
his father and told him all that had happened to him. He 
went to live with them, and as he was old, he died soon, 
and all his riches went to Fair Brow. 12 

We have already stated in the preface that it was not our 
design to admit into this work (except for occasional refer- 
ence) any stories that were literary in their character. For 
this reason we have not drawn on the treasures of Straparola 
or Basile, or even on the more popular chap-books, of which 
there are in Italy, as elsewhere, a great profusion. Of some 
of the stories contained in the last named class of works 
there are purely popular versions. As an example of the 



I36 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

class, and for purposes of comparison, we give the story of 
Leombruno, or Lionbruno, one of the oldest and most pop- 
ular of its kind. The most complete version is the one 
from the Basilicata, given by Comparetti, No. 41, which is 
as follows : 

XXXVI. LIONBRUNO. 

There was once a mariner who had a wife and three or 
four children. He followed the business of a fisherman, and 
he and his family lived on his fishing. For three or four 
years there had been a dearth of fish, so that he had not 
been able to catch even a sardine. Poor mariner ! From 
this misfortune he had been obliged to sell, little by little, all 
he possessed, to live, and was reduced almost to beggary. 
One day he was fishing, and as you can imagine, poor fel- 
low ! he did not haul in even a shell. He cursed madonnas 
and saints. All at once a certain person (it was the En- 
emy) rose in the midst of the sea before his bark. " What 
is the matter, mariner, that you are so angry ? " " What 
should the matter be ? My bad luck. For three or four 
years I have been ruining myself, body and soul, in this sea 
with these nets, and I cannot catch even a string to hang 
myself with." " Listen," said the Enemy. " If you will 
agree to give me your wife's next child in thirteen years, 
from now until you deliver it to me I will cause you to 
catch so much fish that you shall become the richest of men 
by selling it." Then the mariner understood that this was 
the Enemy, and said to himself : " My wife has had no 
children for some years. Will she take it into her head to 
have another just now when I make this agreement with 
the Enemy ? Oh, come ! she is old now ; she will have no 
more." Then turning to the Enemy, he said : "Well, since 
you wish to make this contract, let us make it. But, re- 
member, you must make me rich." "Don't fear," said the 
Enemy ; " let us make the agreement and then leave the 
matter to me." " Softly, we must settle another matter first ; 
then we will make the contract." " What is it ? " " Lis- 
ten. Suppose my wife should have no children during these 



FAIRY TALES. 1 37 

thirteen years ? " " Then you will remain rich and give 
me nothing." " That is what I wanted to know. Now we 
can make the contract." And they settled everything at 
once. Then the Enemy disappeared. The mariner began 
to draw in his nets, and they were full to overflowing of all 
kinds of fish, and he became richer from day to day. In 
great joy he said : "I have played a trick on the devil ! " — 
and, poor man ! he did not know that it was the devil who 
had played a trick on him. Now you must know that just 
when they were making the contract, the mariner's wife, 
old as she was, expected to become a mother again, and the 
Enemy knew it. In due time the wife gave birth to a boy 
so handsome that he seemed a flower. His parents named 
him Lionbruno. The Enemy suddenly appeared : " Mari- 
ner ! mariner ! " " How can I serve you ? " replied the poor 
man, all trembling. " The promise is due. Lionbruno is 
mine." " Yes, you are right. But you must obey the con- 
tract. Remember that it is in thirteen years. Now only a 
few months have passed." " That is true," replied the En- 
emy ; "farewell, then, until the end of the thirteen years." 
Then he vanished. Meanwhile Lionbruno grew every day, 
and became constantly handsomer, and his parents sent him 
to school. But time passes, and behold the end of the thir- 
teen years draws near. One day, before the time agreed 
upon, the Enemy appeared. "Mariner! mariner!" "Oh, 
poor me ! " said the wretched man, who recognized him by 
his horrid voice. But he had to answer. And what could 
he do ? The contract was clear and the time come. The 
poor mariner, willingly or unwillingly, was obliged to prom- 
ise to send the boy the next day alone to the sea. The 
next day the mother sent her son, when he returned from 
school, to carry something to eat to his father. The un- 
happy father had, however, gone far out to sea, so that his 
son could not find him. The poor boy sat down on the 
beach, and to pass the time, took pieces of wood and made 
little crosses of them, and stuck them in the sand around 
him, so that he was surrounded by them, and held one also 
in his hand, singing all the time. 



138 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Behold, the Enemy comes to take him, and says to him : 
" What are you doing, boy ? " " I am waiting for my 
father," he replied. The Enemy looked and saw that he 
could not take him, because he was seated in the midst of 
all those little crosses, and moreover had one in his hand- 
He regarded the boy with an ugly look, and cried : " De- 
stroy those crosses, miserable boy ! " " No, I will not de- 
stroy them." " Destroy them at once, or — or" — and he 
threatened him and frightened him with his ugly face. Then 
the poor child destroyed the little crosses around him, but 
still held one in his hand. " Destroy the other, quick ! " 
cried the Enemy, more enraged than ever. " No, no ! " 
the poor child replied, all in tears ; " I will not destroy this 
little cross." The Enemy threatened him again and terri- 
fied him with his rolling eyes, but the child was firm, and 
then a bright light appeared in the air. The fairy Colina, 
queen of the fairies, came down, took the good boy by the 
hair, and delivered him from the Enemy. Then if you had 
seen what lightnings and thunder ! what darts ! The Enemy 
shot fire from his eyes, mouth, nose, ears, everywhere ! But 
with all his flames he remained duped, and the fairy carried 
the good boy away to her splendid palace. There Lion- 
bruno grew up in the midst of the fairies. Imagine how 
well off he was there ! He lacked nothing. Increasing 
always in beauty, he became a youth whom you should 
have seen ! Some years passed. One day Lionbruno said to 
the fairy Colina : " Listen. I want to go and see my mother 
and father a little. You will not refuse me your permission, 
will you ?" "No, I will not refuse you it," said the fairy. 
" I will give you twenty days to go and see your family. 
But do not stay any longer. Remember that I have saved 
you from the Enemy and have brought you up in the midst 
of great wealth. Now this wealth we are to enjoy together, 
for you, Lionbruno, are to be my husband." You can im- 
agine whether the youth wished to say no. He replied at 
once : " I will do your will in all things." Then the fairy 
said : " My Lionbruno, take this ruby ; all that you ask of 
it you shall have." He took the ruby. Then all the fairies 



FAIRY TALES. 1 39 

gave him in turn some token. He took them, and thanked 
them all. Then he embraced his bride and departed. Lion- 
bruno travelled better than a prince, magnificently dressed, 
on a superb horse, with guards before him. He arrived at 
his town, went to the square, and a crowd of people sur- 
rounded him out of curiosity. He asked his way to the 
house of the mariner who was his father. He did not re- 
veal himself to his parents, but asked them for a lodging 
that night. At midnight Lionbruno changed, by virtue of 
the ruby, the wretched hovel into a magnificent palace, and 
the next day he changed himself into the thirteen-year-old 
Lionbruno and revealed himself to his parents, telling them 
how the fairy Colina had liberated him from the Enemy, 
brought him up, and made him her husband. "For this 
reason, dear father and mother," said he, " I cannot remain 
with you. I have come to see you, to embrace you, to 
make you rich ; but I can stay with you a few days only, 
and then I must leave you." His father and mother saw 
that they could do nothing, and had to be contented. One 
fine morning Lionbruno, by an order to the ruby, which he 
wore on his finger, brought together a great mass of riches, 
and then called his parents and said : " I leave you masters 
of all this wealth and of this palace. You will no longer 
need anything. Now give me your blessing, for I wish to 
go." The poor people began to weep, and said : " Bless 
you, my son ! " They embraced each other in tears, and 
he departed. 

He arrived at a great city, — like Naples, for example, — 
and went to lodge at the finest inn. Then he went out to 
walk and heard a proclamation which declared : " What- 
ever prince or knight, on horse, with spear in hand, shall 
pierce and carry away a gold star, shall marry the king's 
daughter." Imagine how many princes and knights en- 
tered the lists ! Lionbruno, more for braggadocio than for 
anything else, said to himself : " I wish to go and carry 
away the star;" and he commanded the ruby: " My ruby, 
to-morrow, I wish to carry away the golden star." The 
princes and knights began to assemble and try their skill. 



140 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Every one reached the star and touched it with his spear, 
but there was no talk of their carrying it away. Lionbruno 
came, and with a master-stroke carried off the star. Then 
he quickly escaped with his horse to the inn, so that no one 
should see him. "Who is he ? " " Where is the winner ?" 
No one can give any news of him. The king was ill- 
humored about it, and issued the proclamation again for 
the next day. But, to cut the matter short, the same thing 
occurred the next day. Lionbruno duped them a second 
time. Imagine how angry the king was ! He issued a 
third proclamation. But this time what does the crafty 
king do ? He posts a large number of soldiers at all the 
places by which one could escape. The princes and knights 
begin their courses. As usual, no one carries away the 
star, and Lionbruno carries it off and rides away. But the 
soldiers, quicker than he, seize him, arrest him, and carry 
him to the king. " What do you take me for, that, not sat- 
isfied with duping me twice, you wish to dupe me a third 
time ? " Thus spoke the king, who was seated on the 
throne. "Pardon, Majesty. I did not dare to enter your 
presence." " Then you ought not to have undertaken to 
carry away the star. Now you have done so, and must 
become my daughter's husband." Lionbruno, nolens volens, 
was obliged to marry the princess. The king prepared a 
magnificent feast for the wedding, and invited all the princes, 
counts, and barons, — all sorts of persons. When the 
hall was filled with these gentlemen, Lionbruno, before 
marrying the princess, said to the king: "Majesty, it is 
true that your daughter is a very beautiful girl, but I had 
a bride by whose side your daughter could not stand for 
beauty, grace, everything." Imagine how the king felt 
when he heard these words. The poor princess, at this 
affront in the presence of so many noblemen, became as red 
as fire. The king, greatly disturbed, said : " Well, if it is 
so, we wish to see your wife, if she is as beautiful as you 
say." "Yes, yes ! " cried all the noblemen ; " we, too, wish 
to see her ; we wish to see her ! " Poor Lionbruno was in 
a tight place. What could he do ? He had recourse to 



FAIRY TALES. 141 

the ruby. " Ruby mine, make fairy Colina come here." 
But this time he was mistaken. The ruby could do every- 
thing, but it could not compel the fairy to come, for it was 
she who had given it its magic power. The summons, how- 
ever, reached the fairy Colina ; but she did not go. " My 
friend has done a pretty thing ! " said she. " Bravo ! good ! 
Now I will fix him as he deserves ! " She called the lowest 
of her servants, and made her suddenly appear in the great 
hall of the king, where all were assembled for the wedding. 
" How beautiful she is ! how beautiful she is ! " all said as 
soon as they saw her. " Is this, then, your first bride ? " 
" What ! " answered Lionbruno, " my first bride ! This is 
the lowest of the servants of my first bride." " Gracious ! " 
exclaimed the noblemen ; " if this is the lowest of the ser- 
vants and is so beautiful, imagine what the mistress must 
be ! " " Then," said the king, " if this is not your first bride, 
I wish you to make her come herself." "Yes, yes, her- 
self ! " cried the others, likewise. Poor Lionbruno ! He 
was obliged to have recourse again to the ring. But this 
time, also, the fairy did not go, but sent instead her next 
servant. Scarcely had they seen her when they all said : 
•' This one, oh, this one, is really beautiful ! This, now, is 
certainly your first bride, is she not, Lionbruno ? " " No, 
no ! " replied Lionbruno ; " my first bride is a marvel of 
beauty. Different from this one ! This one is only the 
second servant." Then the king, in a threatening tone, 
said to him : " Lionbruno, let us put an end to this ! I 
command you to cause your first wife to come here in- 
stantly." The matter was growing serious. Poor Lion- 
bruno had recourse for the third time to the ruby, and said 
to it : " Ruby mine, if you really wish to help me, now is 
the moment. You must cause the fairy Colina herself to 
come here." The summons reached her at once, and this 
time she went. When all those great lords and the king 
and his daughter saw that marvel of beauty, they became as 
so many statues. But the fairy Colina approached Lion- 
bruno, pretended to take his hand, and drew off his ring, 
saying : " Traitor ! you cannot find me until you have worn 



142 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

out seven pairs of iron shoes." Then she vanished. The 
king, in fury, said to Lionbruno : " I understand. The power 
of carrying off the star was not yours, but your ruby's. 
Leave my palace ! " He had him seized and well beaten and 
sent away. 

And so poor Lionbruno was left without the fairy Colina 
and the king's daughter, and departed from the city in 
great grief. When he had gone a few steps, he heard a 
great noise. It was a smithy. He entered, and called the 
blacksmith : " Master, I want seven pairs of iron shoes." 
" I will make you twelve if you wish, but it seems to me 
that you must have some agreement with the Eternal to 
live who knows how many hundred years to wear out all 
these shoes." " What does that matter to you ? It is 
enough if I pay you. Make me the shoes and hold your 
tongue." He made them for him at once. Lionbruno paid 
him, put on one pair, and stuck three in one side of his 
travelling sack and three in the other, and set out. After 
walking a long time, he arrived late at night in a forest. 
All at once three robbers came there. " Good man," said 
they to Lionbruno, " how did you happen here ? " " I am a 
poor pilgrim," he replied ; " it grew dark and I stopped here 
to rest. And who are you, gentlemen ? " " We are travel- 
lers." And they all stopped there to rest. The next day 
Lionbruno arose, took leave of the three robbers, and de- 
parted. But he had scarcely gone a few steps when he 
heard them quarrelling. Now you must know that those 
robbers had stolen three objects of great value, and were 
now disputing as to how they should divide them. One of 
them said : " Fools that we are ! We had here that pilgrim, 
who could have acted as judge and made the division, and 
we have let him go. Let us call him back." " Yes, yes ! let 
us call him," said the others. They called him, and he 
came back. " How can I serve you, gentlemen ? " said he. 
" Listen, good man ; we have three objects of great value 
to divide. You must be the judge, and give to each one 
what belongs to him." "Very well; but what objects are 
you talking of ? " " Here is a pair of boots, a purse, and a 



FAIRY TALES. 1 43 

cloak. The boots have this virtue, that he who has them 
on runs faster than the wind. If you say to the purse, 
'open and shut,' it at once gives you a hundred ducats. 
Finally he who puts on the cloak and buttons it up, can see 
and yet not be seen." "Very good. But to act the judge 
well, I must first examine these three objects carefully." 
" Certainly, that is right." Lionbruno put on the boots, 
tried to run, and went marvellously. " What do you think 
of these boots ? " asked the thieves. " Excellent, indeed," 
replied Lionbruno, and kept them on. Then he said: 
" Now let us see the purse." He took it and said : " Purse, 
open and shut," and at once there came forth a hundred 
silver ducats. " Now let us see what this cloak is," he said, 
at last. He put it on and began to button it up. While 
he was doing so he asked the robbers : " Do you see me 
now?" They answered: "Yes." He kept on buttoning 
it and asked again : " Now do you see me ? " " Yes." Fi- 
nally he reached the last button. " Now do you see me ? " 
" No." " If you don't see me now you never will see me 
again." He threw away the iron shoes and cried : " Now 
for you, boots ! " And away ! faster than the wind. When 
the three robbers saw themselves duped in that way, what 
a rage they were in ! They thrashed each other soundly, 
and especially the one who had called Lionbruno back ; and 
at last they all found themselves with broken bones. 

Lionbruno, after having cheated the robbers thus, con- 
tinued his way joyfully. After a long journey, he arrived 
in the midst of a forest. He saw at a distance a slight 
smoke, and among frightful rocks, a little old hovel all 
surrounded by dense wild shrubs, with a little door entirely 
covered with ivy, so that it could scarcely be seen. Lion- 
bruno approached the door and knocked softly. " Who is 
knocking ? " asked from within an old woman's voice. " I 
am a poor Christian," replied Lionbruno ; "night has over- 
taken me here, and I am seeking a lodging, if it can be 
had." The door opened and Lionbruno entered. " Oh, 
poor youth ! How have you been tempted to come and ruin 
yourself in this remote place ? " demanded, in great won- 



144 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

der, the old woman, who was within, and who was Borea. 13 
(Do you know who Borea is? No less a person than the 
mother of the winds.) " Oh, dear little old lady, my aunt," 
replied Lionbruno, "I am lost in this great forest, for I 
have been travelling a long time to find my dear bride, the 
fairy Colina, and I have not yet been able to find any trace 
of her." " My son, you have made a great mistake ! What 
shall we do now that my sons are coming home ? Perhaps, 
God help you ! they will want to eat you." " Oh, wretched 
me ! " cried Lionbruno, then, all trembling ; " who, my aunt, 
are these sons of yours who so devour Christians ? " " My 
son," replied Borea, " you do not know where you are. Do 
you not know that this house in the midst of these prec- 
ipices is the house of the winds ? And I, you do not rec- 
ognize me ; I, my son, am Borea, the mother of all the 
winds." " What shall I do now ? Oh, my dear aunt, help 
me ; do not let your sons eat me up ! " The old woman 
finally concealed him in a chest, telling him not to make 
the slightest noise when her sons returned. Soon a loud 
noise was heard at a distance : it was the winds returning 
home. The nearer they approached the louder the noise 
grew, and a sound of branches and trees broken off was 
heard. At last the winds arrived, pushed open the door, 
and entered. "Good evening, mamma." "Welcome, my 
sons ! " replied their mother, all smiling. And so one after 
the other all the winds entered, and the last to enter was 
Sirocco, for you must know that Sirocco is the youngest 
of Borea's sons. Scarcely had they entered when they 
began to say : " What smell of human flesh is here ? Here, 
Christians, Christians ! " " Oh, bad luck to you ! what fools 
you are ! Where is there any smell of human flesh here ? 
Who do you think would risk their lives by coming here ? " 
But her sons would not be convinced, especially that ob- 
stinate Sirocco. Lionbruno commended his soul to God, 
for he saw death at his heels. But finally Borea succeeded 
in convincing her sons. " Oh, mamma, what is there to 
eat to-night ? We have travelled so far, and are so hun- 
gry!" "Here, my sons," the mother answered, "come 



FAIRY TALES. 1 45 

here ; for a nice polenta is cooking for you. I will finish 
cooking it soon, and put it at once on the table." The next 
day Borea said to her sons : " My sons, when you came 
you said you smelled human flesh. Tell me, should you 
really see a man now, what would you do to him ?" " Now, 
we would not do anything to him. Last night, we should 
have torn him in pieces." " But you would not do any- 
thing to him, truly ? " "Truly." "Well, if you will give 
me your promise by St. John not to harm him, I will show 
you a live man." " Oh ! just see ! A man here ! Yes, yes, 
mamma, show him to us at once. We swear by St. John ! 
we will not touch a hair of his head." Then their mother 
opened the chest and made Lionbruno come forth. If you 
had heard the winds then ! They puffed and blowed around 
him and asked him, first of all, how he had come to that 
place, where no living soul had ever penetrated. Lion- 
bruno said : " Would to heaven that my journey ended 
here ! I must go to the palace of the fairy Colina ; perhaps 
one of you can tell me where it is ?" Then Borea asked 
her sons one by one and each replied that he knew nothing 
of it. Finally she questioned her youngest son : " And 
you, Sirocco, do you not know anything about it?" "I? 
Should I not know something about it ? Am I perchance 
like my brothers who never can find a hiding-place ? The 
fairy Colina is love-sick. She says that her lover has be- 
trayed her, and continually weeps, and is so reduced by her 
grief that she can live but little longer. And I deserve 
to be hanged, for I have seen her in this condition, and 
yet I have annoyed her so that I have driven her to de- 
spair. I amused myself by making a noise about her pal- 
ace, and more than once I burst open windows and turned 
things upside down, even the bed she was resting on." 
" Oh, my dear Sirocco ! " said Lionbruno ; " my good Si- 
rocco, you must aid me ! Since you have given me news 
of her, you must also do me the favor to show me the way 
to my bride's palace. I, dear Sirocco, am the betrothed of 
the fairy Colina, and it is not true that I have betrayed her ; 
on the contrary, if I do not find her, I shall die of grief." 



146 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

" My son," said Sirocco, "listen ; for my part I would take 
you there with all my heart. But I should have to carry 
you about my neck. And the trouble is I cannot do so, 
for I am wind, I am air, and you would slip off. Were you 
like me the matter would go very well." " Don't worry 
about that," said Lionbruno, "show me the way, and I will 
not lag behind." " He is crazy," said Sirocco to himself ; 
then he said to Lionbruno : " Very well, since you feel so 
strong, to-morrow we will make the trial. Meanwhile let 
us go to bed, for it is late, and to-morrow, God willing, 
we will rise early ! " And all went to sleep. In the morn- 
ing early Sirocco arose and cried : " Lionbruno ! Lionbruno ! 
get up quickly ! " And Lionbruno put on his boots in a 
hurry, seized his purse, fixed his cloak carefully, and left 
the house with Sirocco. " There," said Sirocco, " is the 
way we must take. Be careful ! Don't let me out of your 
sight, and leave the rest to me. If a few hours after sun- 
set to-night I don't make you find your beauty, you may 
call me an ass." They started. They ran like the wind. 
Every little while Sirocco called out : " Lionbruno ! " and 
he, who was ahead, answered at once : " Oh ! don't think I 
am going to lag behind!" and with these questions and 
answers they finally reached the palace of the fairy Co- 
lina about two hours after sunset. " Here we are," said 
Sirocco. " Here is your fair one's balcony ! See how I 
am going to blow open the window for you. Attention, 
now ! As soon as it is opened you give a jump and spring 
in." And so he did. Before the servants could run and 
shut the balcony window, Lionbruno was already under 
the fairy Colina's bed. Afterwards one of the maids said 
to the fairy : " My mistress, how do you feel now ? Do you 
not feel a little better ? " " Better ? I am half dead. That 
cursed wind has nearly killed me." " But, mistress, will 
you not take something this evening ? A little coffee, or 
chocolate, or broth ? " " I wish nothing at all." " Take 
something, if you don't, you will not rest to-night, you have 
eaten nothing for three or four days. Really, you must 
take something." And the servant said so much that to 



FAIRY TALES. 1 47 

get rid of her importunity the fairy said : " Well, bring 
something ; if I want it, I will take it." The servant 
brought a little coffee, and left it by the side of the bed. 
Lionbruno, in his cloak so that no one could see him, 
came from under the bed and drank the coffee himself. 
The servant, believing her mistress had drunk it, brought 
the chocolate too, and Lionbruno drank that as before. 
Then the servant brought the fairy some broth and a 
pigeon. " Mistress," said she, " since, thank God, you 
have taken the coffee and the chocolate, take this broth 
and a bit of pigeon, and so you will gain strength and be 
better to-morrow." The mistress on hearing all this be- 
lieved that the servants were making fun of her. " Oh, 
stupid blockheads ! What are you saying ? Are not the 
cups still here with the coffee and the chocolate ? I have 
touched nothing." The servants thought that their mis- 
tress was out of her mind. Then Lionbruno took off his 
cloak, came out from under the bed, and said : " My bride, 
do you know me ? " " Lionbruno mine, is it you ? " and she 
rose from the bed and embraced him. "Then it is not true, 
my Lionbruno, that you have forgotten me ? " " If I had 
forgotten you I should not have suffered so much to find 
you. But do you still love me ? " " My Lionbruno, if I had 
not always loved you, you would not have found me at the 
point of death. And now you see I am cured only because 
I have seen you." 

Then they ate and drank together, and summoned the 
servants and made a great festival. The next day they ar- 
ranged everything for the wedding and were married with 
great splendor and joy. In the evening they gave a grand 
ball and a fine banquet, which you should have seen ! 14 

The above story is extremely popular, and has long cir- 
culated among the people as an independent work in the 
shape of a chap-book. We have, however, given the form 
which is handed down by oral tradition, purposely avoiding 
the use of any literary materials. Many similar tales might 
be added to this chapter, but the most important and best 



148 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

known have been given. To give those tales which cannot 
be described as fairy tales and which are usually found in 
the shape of chap-books in prose and poetry would fall with- 
out the scope of the present volume, and would belong more 
appropriately to a work on Italian popular literature. 15 



CHAPTER III. 

STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 

The geographical situation of Italy and its commercial 
connections during the Middle Ages would lead us to ex- 
pect a large foreign element in its popular tales. This 
foreign element, it is hardly necessary to say, is almost 
exclusively Oriental, and was introduced either by direct 
communication with the East, or indirectly from France, 
which received it from Spain, whither it was brought by 
the Saracens. Although this Oriental element is now per- 
fectly popular, it is, as far as its origin is concerned, purely 
literary. That is to say, the stories we are about to exam- 
ine are to be found in the great Oriental collections of tales 
which were early translated into all the languages of Eu- 
rope, and either passed directly from these translations 
into circulation among the people, or became familiar to 
them from the novelists who made such frequent use of 
this element. 1 A few stories may have been taken from 
the French fabliaux or from the French translations of the 
Disciplina Clericalis, as we shall afterwards see. 2 The 
Pentamerone, and especially Straparola's tales, may finally 
be mentioned as the source from which many Oriental sto- 
ries have flowed into popular circulation. 3 In this chapter 
it is proposed to notice briefly only those stories the Orien- 
tal origin of which is undoubted, and which may be found 
in the great collections above mentioned and in some oth- 
ers less known. For convenience, some stories of this class 
have been referred to chapter VI. 

The first of this class which we shall mention is well 
known from the version in Lafontaine (IX. i), Le Depositaire 
infidele. The only Italian version we have found is Pitre, 
No. 194, which is as follows : 



1 50 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

XXXVII. THE PEASANT AND THE MASTER. 

A peasant one day, conversing in the farmhouse with his 
master and others, happened, while speaking of sheep and 
cheese, to say that he had had a present of a little cheese, 
but the mice had eaten it all up. Then the master, who 
was rich, proud, and fat, called him a fool, and said that it 
was not possible that the mice could have eaten the cheese, 
and all present said the master was right and the peasant 
wrong. What more could the poor man say ? Talk makes 
talk. After a while the master said that having taken the 
precaution to rub with oil his ploughshares to keep them 
from rusting, the mice had eaten off all the points. Then 
the friend of the cheese broke forth : " But, master, how 
can it be that the mice cannot eat my cheese, if they can 
eat the points of your ploughshares ? " But the master and 
all the others began to cry out : " Be silent, you fool ! Be 
silent, you fool ! the master is right ! " 4 

The above story really belongs to the class of fables of 
which there are but few of Oriental origin in the Italian 
collections. 5 The following version of one of the most fa- 
mous of the Eastern apologues is from Monferrato (Com- 
paretti, No. 67). It is called : 

XXXVIII. THE INGRATES. 

There was once a man who went into the forest to gather 
wood, and saw a snake crushed under a large stone. He 
raised the stone a little with the handle of his axe and the 
snake crawled out. When it was at liberty it said to the 
man: "I am going to eat you." The man answered.: 
" Softly ; first let us hear the judgment of some one, and if 
I am condemned, then you shall eat me." The first one 
they met was a horse as thin as a stick, tied to an oak-tree. 
He had eaten the leaves as far as he could reach, for he was 
famished. The snake said to him : " Is it right for me to 
eat this man who has saved my life ? " The nag answered : 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 151 

" More than right. Just look at me ! I was one of the 
finest horses. I have carried my master so many years, 
and what have I gained ? Now that I am so badly off that 
I can no longer work they have tied me to this oak, and 
after I have eaten these few leaves I shall die of hunger. 
Eat the man, then ; for he who does good is ill rewarded, 
and he who does evil must be well rewarded. Eat him, for 
you will be doing a good day's work." They afterwards 
happened to find a mulberry-tree, all holes, for it was eaten 
by old age ; and the snake asked it if it was right to eat the 
man who had saved its life. " Yes," the tree answered at 
once, "for I have given my master so many leaves that he 
has raised from them the finest silk-worms in the world ; 
now that I can no longer stand upright, he has said that he 
is going to throw me into the fire. Eat him, then, for you 
will do well." Afterwards they met the fox. The man 
took her aside and begged her to pronounce in his favor. 
The fox said : "The better to render judgment I must see 
just how the matter has happened." They all returned to 
the spot and arranged matters as they were at first ; but 
as soon as the man saw the snake under the stone he cried 
out : " Where you are, there I will leave you." And there 
the snake remained. The fox wished in payment a bag of 
hens, and the man promised them to her for the next morn- 
ing. The fox went there in the morning, and when the man 
saw her he put some dogs in the bag, and told the fox not 
to eat the hens close by, for fear the mistress of the house 
would hear it. So the fox did not open the bag until she 
had reached a distant valley ; then the dogs came out and 
ate her ; and so it is in the world ; for who does good is ill 
rewarded and who does evil is well rewarded. 6 

It would be surprising if we did not find the fascinating 
stories of the Thousand and One Nights naturalized among 
the people. It is, of course, impossible to tell whether they 
were communicated to the people directly from a literary 
source, or whether the separate stories came to Italy from the 
Orient by way of oral transmission. 7 These stories have cir- 



152 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

culated among the people long enough to be treated as their 
own property and changed to suit their taste. Incidents from 
other stories have been added and the original story remod- 
elled until it is hardly recognizable. The story of " Aladdin 
and the Wonderful Lamp," for instance, is found from 
Sicily to Lombardy ; but in no one version are all the fea- 
tures of the original story preserved. In one of the Sicilian 
versions (Messina) Aladdin does not lose his lamp ; in an- 
other (Palermo), after Aladdin has lost his lamp he goes in 
search of it, and on his journey settles the quarrel of an ant, 
an eagle, and a lion, who give him the power to transform 
himself into any one of them. He finally discovers the 
magician, who has his life elsewhere than in his own body, 
and who is killed after the usual complicated process. In 
the Roman version the point of the unfinished window in 
Aladdin's palace is missed, the magician requires to be 
killed, as in the version from Palermo, and there are some 
additional incidents not in the Oriental original. In the 
Mantuan story, instead of a lamp we have a rusty ring, 
which the youngest brother finds inside of a dead cock be- 
queathed to three brothers by their father. After the ring 
has fallen into the possession of the magician and the pal- 
ace has disappeared, the hero goes in search of his wife 
and ring. On his way he is assisted by the " King of the 
Fishes " and the " King of the Birds." The eagle carries a 
letter to the captive princess, who obtains the ring from the 
magican, rubs it on a stone, and when it asks what she 
wishes, answers : " I wish this palace to return where it 
first was and the magician to be drowned in the sea." 8 

Of almost equal popularity is the story of the " Forty 
Thieves," who are, however, in the Italian versions, reduced 
to thirteen, twelve, or six in number. The versions in 
Pitre (No. 23 and variants) contain but one incident of the 
original story, where the robbers are detected in the oil-jars, 
and killed by pouring boiling oil over them. In one of Pitre's 
versions the robbers are hidden in sacks of charcoal, and the 
cunning daughter pierces the bags with a red-hot spit. In 
another, they are hidden in oil-skins, and sold to the abbess 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 53 

of a certain convent for oil. One of the nuns has some sus- 
picion of the trick, and invites her companions to tap the 
skins with red-hot irons. Another Sicilian version (Gonz. 
No. 79, "The Story of the Twelve Robbers") contains the 
first part of the Arabian tale, the robbers' cave which opens 
and closes by the words, " Open, door ! " and " Shut, door ! " 
The story ends with the death of one of the brothers, who 
entered the cave and was killed by one of the robbers who 
had remained. It is only in the version from Mantua 
(Visentini, No. 7, " The Cunning Maid ") that we find the 
story complete ; boiling water is used instead of oil in kill- 
ing the thieves, and the servant girl afterwards kills the 
captain, who had escaped before. The story of the " Third 
Calendar " is told in detail in Comparetti (No. 65, " The 
Son of the King of France ") and the " Two Envious Sis- 
ters" furnishes details for a number of distinct stories. 9 
The story of "The Hunchback" is found in Pitre and 
Straparola, and as it is also the subject of an Old-French 
fabliau, it may have been borrowed from the French, or, 
what is more likely, both French and Italians took it from 
a common source. 10 The fable of "The Ass, the Ox, and 
the Peasant," which the Vizier relates to prevent his daugh- 
ter becoming the Sultan's wife, is found in Pitre (No. 282) 
under the title of " The Curious Wife," and is also in Stra- 
parola. 11 The beautiful story of " Prince Ahmed and the 
fairy Peribanu " is found in Nerucci, No. 40, " The Three 
Presents, or the Story of the Carpets." The three presents 
are the magic telescope that sees any distance, the carpet 
that carries one through the air, and the magic grapes that 
bring to life. The Italian version follows closely the Orien- 
tal original. The same may be said of another story in the 
same collection, No. 48, " The Traveller from Turin," which 
is nothing but Sindbad's " Fourth Voyage." 12 The last story 
taken from the Arabian Nights which we shall mention is 
that of " The Second Royal Mendicant," found in Compa- 
retti (No. 63, " My Happiness ") from the Basilicata, and in 
the collection of Mantuan stories. The latter (No. 8) is en- 
titled : " There is no longer any Devil." The magician is 



154 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the devil, and the story concludes, after the transformations 
in which the peasant's son kills the devil in the shape of a 
hen, with the words : " And this is the reason why there is 
no longer any devil." 13 

The first collection of Oriental tales known in Europe as 
a collection was the Discipline/, Clericalis, that is, Instruc- 
tion or Teaching for Clerks or Clergymen. It was the 
work of a converted Spanish Jew, Petrus Alphonsi, and was 
composed before 1 106, the date of the baptism of the author, 
the time and place of whose death are not known. The 
Disciplina Clericalis was early translated into French prose 
and poetry, and was the storehouse from which all subse- 
quent story-tellers drew abundant material. 14 Precisely 
how the Disciplina Clericalis became known in Italy we 
cannot tell ; but the separate stories must have become 
popular and diffused by word of mouth at a very early date. 
One of the stories of this collection is found in Italian liter- 
ature as early as the Cento Novelle Antiche. lb Four of the 
stories in the Discipli?ia Clericalis are found in Pitre and 
other collections of popular tales, and although belonging, 
with one exception, to the class of jests, they are mentioned 
here for the sake of completeness. 

In one of the stories of the Disciplina Clericalis, two 
citizens of a certain town and a countryman were making 
the pilgrimage to Mecca together, and on the way ran so 
short of food that they had only flour enough left to make 
one small loaf. The two citizens in order to cheat the 
countryman out of his share devised the following scheme: 
While the bread was baking they proposed that all three 
should sleep, and whoever should have the most remarkable 
dream should have the whole loaf. While the citizens were 
asleep, the countryman, who had divined their plan, stole 
the half-cooked bread from the fire, ate it, and then threw 
himself down again. One of the other two pretended to 
wake up in a fright, and told his companion that he had 
dreamed that two angels had led him through the gates of 
heaven into the presence of God. The other declared that 
he had been led by two angels into the nether-world. The 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 155 

countryman heard all this and still pretended to sleep. 
When his companions aroused him he asked in amazement : 
"■ Who are those calling me ? " They answered : " We are 
your companions." " What," said he, " have you got back 
already ? " " Where have we been to in order to return ? " 
The countryman replied : " It seemed to me that two angels 
led one of you to heaven, and afterwards two others con- 
ducted the other to hell. From this I imagined that neither 
of you would return, so I got up and ate the bread." 16 

The same story is told in Pitre (No. 173) of a monk who 
was an itinerant preacher, and who was accompanied on his 
journey by a very cunning lay brother. One day the monk 
received a present of some fish which he wished to eat him- 
self alone, and therefore proposed to the brother that the 
one of them who dreamed the best dream should have all 
the fish. The dreams and the conclusion are the same as 
in the original. 17 

The next story is well known from the use made of it by 
Cervantes in Don Quixote (Part I., chap, xx.) where Sancho 
relates it to beguile the hours of the memorable night when 
the noise of the fulling-mill so terrified the doughty knight 
and his squire. The version in the Disciplina Clericalis is 
as follows : " A certain king had a story-teller who told him 
five stories every night. It happened once that the king, 
oppressed by cares of state, was unable to sleep, and asked 
for more than the usual number of stories. The story- 
teller related three short ones. The king wished for more 
still, and when the story-teller demurred, said : " You have 
told me several very short ones. I want something long, 
and then you may go to sleep." The story-teller yielded, 
and began thus : " Once upon a time there was a certain 
countryman who went to market and bought two thousand 
sheep. On his way home a great inundation took place, so 
that he was unable to cross a certain river by the ford or 
bridge. After anxiously seeking some means of getting 
across with his flock, he found at length a little boat in 
which he could convey two sheep over." After the story- 
teller had got thus far he went to sleep. The king roused 



156 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

him and ordered him to finish the story he had begun. 
The story-teller answered : " The flood is great, the boat 
small, and the flock innumerable ; let the aforesaid country- 
man get his sheep over, and I will finish the story I have 
begun." 18 

The version in Pitre (No. 138) lacks all connection and is 
poor, but we give it here, as it is very brief. 



XXXIX. THE TREASURE. 

Once upon a time there was a prince who studied and 
racked his brains so much that he learned magic and the 
art of rinding hidden treasures. One day he discovered a 
treasure in a bank, let us say the bank of Ddisisa : " Oh, he 
says, now I am going to get it out." But to get it out it 
was necessary that ten million million ants should cross 
one by one the river Gianquadara (let us suppose it was that 
one) in a bark made of the half shell of a nut. The prince 
puts the bark in the river and begins to make the ants pass 
over. One, two, three, and he is still doing it. 

Here the person who is telling the story pauses and says : 
" We will finish this story when the ants have finished pass- 
ing over." 19 

The version from Milan is still shorter : 



XL. THE SHEPHERD. 

Once upon a time there was a shepherd who went to feed 
his sheep in the fields, and he had to cross a stream, and he 
took the sheep up one by one to carry them over. . . . 

What then ? Go on ! 

When the sheep are over, I will finish the story. 20 

In chapter V. we shall meet two popular figures in 
Sicilian tales, whose jokes are repeated elsewhere as de- 
tached stories. One of these persons is Firrazzanu, the 
practical joker and knave, who is cunning enough to make 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 57 

others bear the penalty of his own boldness. In the story 
in Pitre (No. 156, var. 2) Firrazzanu's master wants a tailor 
for some work, and Firrazzanu tells him he knows of one 
who is good, but subject to fits, which always make their 
approach known by a twitching of the mouth, and the only 
remedy for them is a sound beating. Of course, when the 
unlucky tailor begins to cut his cloth, he twists his mouth, 
and receives, to his amazement, a sudden beating. 

In this version there is no reason given why Firrazzanu 
should play such a joke on the innocent tailor. In the orig- 
inal, however, a motive is given for the trick. 21 

The last story we shall mention from the Disciplina Cler- 
icalis is the one known in Pitre (No. 197) as : 



XLI. THE THREE ADMONITIONS. 

A man once left his country to go to foreign parts, and 
there entered the service of an abbot. After he had spent 
some time in faithful service, he desired to see his wife and 
native land. He said to the abbot : " Sir, I have served 
you thus long, but now I wish to return to my country." 
" Yes, my son," said the abbot, " but before departing I 
must give you the three hundred ounces * that I have put 
together for you. Will you be satisfied with three admoni- 
tions, or with the three hundred ounces ? " The servant 
answered : " I will be satisfied with the three admonitions." 
" Then listen : First : When you change the old road for 
the new, you will find troubles which you have not looked 
for. Second : See much and say little. Third : Think 
over a thing before you do it, for a thing deliberated is very 
fine. 22 Take this loaf of bread and break it when you are 
truly happy." 

The good man departed, and on his journey met other 
travellers. These said to him : " We are going to take the 
by-way. Will you come with us ? " But he remembering 
the three admonitions of his master answered : " No, my 
friends, I will keep on this road." When he had gone half 
* The ounce is equivalent to nearly thirteen francs (12.75). 



158 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

way, bang ! bang ! he heard some shots. " What was that, 
my sons ? " The robbers had killed his companions. " I 
have gained the first hundred ounces ! " he said, and con- 
tinued his journey. On his way he arrived at an inn as 
hungry as a dog and called for something to eat. A large 
dish of meat was brought which seemed to say : " Eat me, 
eat me !" He stuck his fork in it and turned it over, and 
was frightened out of his wits, for it was human flesh ! He 
wanted to ask the meaning of such food and give the inn- 
keeper a lecture, but just then he thought: "See much 
and say little ; " so he remained silent. The innkeeper 
came, he settled his bill, and took leave. But the innkeeper 
stopped him and said : " Bravo, bravo ! you have saved 
your life. All those who have questioned me about my 
food have been soundly beaten, killed, and nicely cooked." 
" I have gained the second hundred ounces," said the good 
man, who did not think his skin was safe until then. 

When he reached his own country he remembered his 
house, saw the door ajar and slipped in. He looked about 
and saw no one, only in the middle of the room was a table, 
well set with two glasses, two forks, two seats, service for 
two. " How is this ? " he said : " I left my wife alone and 
here I find things arranged for two. There is some trouble." 
So he hid himself under the bed to see what went on. A 
moment after he saw his wife enter, who had gone out a 
short time before for a pitcher of water. A little after he 
saw a sprucely dressed young priest come in and seat him- 
self at the table. " Ah, is that he ? " and he was on the 
point of coming forth and giving him a sound beating ; but 
there came to his mind the final admonition of the abbot : 
"Think over a thing before you do it, for a thing delib- 
erated is very fine ; " and he refrained. He saw them both 
sit down at the table, but before eating his wife turned to 
the young priest and said : " My son, let us say our ac- 
customed Paternoster for your father." When he heard 
this he came from under the bed crying and laughing for 
joy, and embraced and kissed them both so that it was af- 
fecting to see him. Then he remembered the loaf his 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 59 

master had given him and told him to eat in his happiness ; 
he broke the loaf and there fell on the table all the three 
hundred ounces, which the master had secretly put in the 
loaf. 23 

We now turn to some stories taken from a collection 
more famous in some respects than those previously men- 
tioned, The Seven Wise Masters, which enjoyed during 
the Middle Ages a popularity second only to that of the 
Bible. Of this collection there are several Italian transla- 
tions reaching back to the fourteenth century. 24 From one 
of these, or possibly from oral tradition, the stories about 
to be mentioned passed into the popular tales of Italy. 
The first story we shall cite is interesting because popular 
tradition has connected it with Pier delle Vigne, the famous 
chancellor of the Emperor Frederick the Second. The 
Venetian version (Bernoni, Trad. pop. venez. Punt. I. p. 11) 
is in substance as follows : 



XLII. VINEYARD I WAS AND VINEYARD I AM. 

A king, averse to marriage, commanded his steward to 
remain single. The latter, however, one day saw a beauti- 
ful girl named Vigna, and married her secretly. Although 
he kept her closely confined in her chamber, the king be- 
came suspicious and sent the steward off on an embassy. 
After his departure the king entered the apartment oc- 
cupied by him, and saw his officer's wife sleeping. He did 
not disturb her, but, in leaving the room, dropped one of 
his gloves accidentally on the bed. When the husband re- 
turned he found it, but kept a discreet silence, ceasing, 
however, all demonstrations of affection, believing his wife 
had been faithless. The king, anxious to see again the 
beautiful woman, made a feast and ordered the steward to 
bring his wife. He denied in vain that he had one, but 
brought her at last, and while every one else was talking 
gayly at the feast she was silent. The king observed it 
and asked her the cause of her silence ; and she answered 



l60 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

with a pun on her name: "Vineyard I was and Vineyard I 
am, I was loved and no longer am : I know not for what 
reason the Vineyard has lost its season." Her husband, 
who heard this, replied : "Vineyard thou wast and Vineyard 
thou art, loved thou wast- and no longer art : the Vineyard 
has lost its season for the lion's claw." The king, who un- 
derstood what he meant, answered : " I entered the Vine- 
yard, I touched the leaves, but I swear by my crown that I 
have not tasted the fruit." Then the steward understood 
that his wife was innocent, and the two made peace and al- 
ways after lived happy and contented. 25 

This story is found only in the Greek and Hebrew ver- 
sions of The Seven Wise Masters, and in the Arabic 
Seven Viziers. It did not pass into any of the Occidental 
versions, although it was known to Boccaccio, who based on 
it the fifth novel of the first day of the Decameron. Either, 
then, the story is a late adaptation of the Oriental tale, 
which is unlikely, or it comes from some now lost, but once 
popular Italian version of the Oriental form of The Seven 
Wise Masters. 26 

The three following stories are found only in the Wes- 
tern, or European versions of the collection. The first, 
technically called " Vaticinium " or " The Prophecy," relates 
that a son who understood the language of birds heard the 
prediction that his father and mother should come to such 
want that they would not have bread to eat ; but that he, 
the son, should rise so high that his father should -offer him 
water to wash his hands with. The father, enraged at this 
prediction, threw his son into the sea. He was rescued, 
and after many adventures, married the daughter of the 
king of Sicily. One day, while riding through Messina, he 
saw his father and mother, meanly dressed, sitting at the 
door of an inn. He alighted from his horse, entered their 
house, and asked for food. After his father and mother 
had brought him water to wash his hands he revealed him- 
self to them and forgave his father for his cruelty. 

The only Italian version, and disfigured by some extra- 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. l6l 

neous details, is in the Mantuan tales (Visentini, No. 50) : 
" Fortune aid me." Here the son does not hear the proph- 
ecy from the birds, but an angel tells a king, who has long 
desired a son, that he shall have one whom he shall one 
day serve. When the child was ten years old the king 
was so vexed by the prediction that he exposed his son in 
a wood. The child was found by a magician, who brought 
him up, and from whom he afterwards escaped. He went 
to the court of the king, his father, and won the hand of 
the princess (his own sister) by leaping his horse over a 
broad ditch. At the marriage banquet the king handed his 
son a glass of wine, and the latter recognized him and ex- 
claimed : "Behold, the father serves the son." The mar- 
riage was of course given up and the previous aversion of 
the sister explained. 27 

Closely connected with the original story in The Seven 
Wise Masters is the class of stories where the hero is ac- 
quainted with the language of animals, and attains by means 
of it some high position (generally becoming pope) after he 
has been driven from home by his father. The following ver- 
sion is from Monferrato (Comparetti, No. 56) and is entitled : 

XLIII. THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS. 

A father once had a son who spent ten years in school. 
At the end of that time, the teacher wrote the father to 
take away his son because he could not teach him any- 
thing more. The father took the boy home and gave a 
grand banquet in his honor, to which he invited the most 
noble gentlemen of the country. After many speeches by 
those gentlemen, one of the guests said to the host's son : 
"Just tell us some fine thing that you have learned." "I 
have learned the language of dogs, of frogs, and of birds." 
There was universal laughter on hearing this, and all went 
away ridiculing the pride of the father and the foolishness 
of the son. The former was so ashamed at his son's an- 
swer and so angry at him that he gave him up to two ser- 
vants, with orders to take him into a wood and kill him and 



1 62 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

to bring back his heart. The two servants did not dare to 
obey this command, and instead of the lad they killed a dog, 
and carried its heart to their master. The youth fled from 
the country and came to a castle a long way off, where lived 
the treasurer of the prince, who had immense treasures. 
There he asked for and obtained a lodging, but scarcely 
had he entered the house when a multitude of dogs collected 
about the castle. The treasurer asked the young man why 
so many dogs had come, and as the latter understood their 
language he answered that it meant that a hundred assas- 
sins would attack the castle that very evening, and that the 
treasurer should take his precautions. The castellan made 
two hundred soldiers place themselves in ambush about 
the castle and at night they arrested the assassins. The 
treasurer was so grateful to the youth that he wished to 
give him his daughter, but he replied that he could not re- 
main now, but that he would return within a year and three 
days. After he left that castle he arrived at a city where 
the king's daughter was very ill because the frogs which 
were in a fountain near the palace gave her no rest with 
their croaking. The lad perceived that the frogs croaked 
because the princess had thrown a cross into the fountain, 
and as soon as it was removed the girl recovered. The 
king, too, wished the lad to marry her, but he again said 
that he would return within a year and three days. After 
leaving the king he set out for Rome, and on the way met 
three young men, who became his companions. One day it 
was very warm and all three lay down to sleep under an 
oak. Immediately a great flock of birds flew into the oak 
and awakened the pilgrims by their loud singing. One of 
them asked : " Why are these birds singing so joyfully ? " 
The youth answered : " They are rejoicing with the new 
Pope, who is to be one of us." 

And suddenly a dove alighted on his head, and in truth 
shortly after he was made Pope. Then he sent for his 
father, the treasurer, and the king. All presented them- 
selves trembling, for they knew that they had committed 
some sin. But the Pope made them all relate their deeds, 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 63 

and then turned to his father and said : " I am the son 
whom you sent to be killed because I said I understood the 
language of birds, of dogs, and of frogs. You have treated 
me thus, and on the other hand a treasurer and a king have 
been very grateful for this knowledge of mine." The father, 
repenting his fault, wept bitterly, and his son pardoned him 
and kept him with him while he lived. 28 

The next story is doubly interesting because it is found 
not only in the mediaeval collection last mentioned, but also 
in Greek literature, being told of Rampsinitus, King of 
Egypt, by Herodotus (II. 121), and by Pausanias of the two 
architects Agamedes and Trophonius who robbed the treas- 
ury of Hyrieus. 29 There are four versions in Italian : two 
from Sicily (Pitre, Nos. 159, 160), one from Bologna (Coro- 
nedi-Berti, No. 2), and one from Monferrato (Comparetti, 
No. 13). In one of the Sicilian versions (Pitre, No. 159), 
and in the other two from Bologna and Monferrato, the 
thieves are two friends. In the other Sicilian version they 
are a father and son. We give a translation of the last 
named version, which is called : 

XLIV. THE MASON AND HIS SON. 

There was once a mason who had a wife and son. One 
day the king sent for the mason to build a country-house in 
which to put his money, for he was very rich and had no 
place to keep it. The mason set to work with his son. In 
one corner they put in a stone that could be taken out and 
put back, large enough for a man to enter. When the 
house was finished the king paid them and they went home. 
The king then had his money carted to the house and put 
guards around it. After a few days he saw that no one 
went there and took away the guard. Let us leave the 
king, who took away the guard, and return to the mason. 
When his money was gone he said to his son : " Shall we 
go to the country-house ? " They took a sack and went 
there. When they arrived at the house they took out the 



/ 



164 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

stone and the father entered and filled the bag with gold. 
When he came out he put the stone back as it was before 
and they departed. The next day the king rode out to his 
house and saw that his pile of gold had diminished. He 
said to his servants : " Who has been taking the money ? " 
The servants answered : " It is not possible, your Majesty; 
for who comes here ; where could they get in ? It may be 
that the house has settled, being newly built." So they 
took and repaired it. After a while the mason said again 
to his son : " Let us go back there." They took the ac- 
customed sack and went there ; arriving as usual they took 
out the stone and the father entered, filled the sack, and 
they departed. The same night they made another trip, filled 
the same sack again, and went away. The next day the 
king visited the house with his soldiers and councillors. 
When he entered he went to see the money and it was very 
greatly diminished ; he turned to his councillors and said : 
" Some one comes here and takes the money." The coun- 
cillors said: "But, your Majesty, while you are saying so, 
one thing can be done ; take a few tubs, fill them with 
melted pitch, and place them around the walls on the inside, 
whoever enters will fall in them, and the thief is found." 

They took the tubs and put them inside, and the king left 
sentinels and returned to the city. The sentinels remained 
there a week ; but as they saw no one, they, too, left. 

Let us leave the sentinels, who have departed, and return 
to the mason. He said to his son : " Let us go to the ac- 
customed place." They took the sack and went. Arriving 
there, they took out the stone, and the father entered. As 
he entered he stuck fast in the pitch. He tried to help 
himself and get his feet loose, but his hands stuck fast. 
Then he said to his son : " Do you hear what I tell you, my 
son ? Cut off my head, tear my coat to pieces, put back 
the stone as it was, and throw my head in the river, so that 
I shall not be known." The son did as he was told, and 
returned home. When he told his mother what had become 
of his father, she began to tear her hair. After a few days, 
the son, who did not know any trade, entered the service of 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 65 

a carpenter, and told his mother not to say anything, as if 
nothing had happened. 

Let us leave these and return to the king, who went the 
next day with his councillors to the country-house. They 
entered and saw the body, and the king said : " But it has 
no head ! How shall we find out who it is ? " The coun- 
cillors said : " Take him and carry him through the streets 
three days ; where you see weeping you will know who it 
is." They took the body, and called Filippu Carruba and 
Brasi Vuturu,* and made them carry it about. When they 
passed through the street where the mason's widow lived, 
she began to weep. The son, whose shop was near by, 
heard it, and gave himself a blow in the hand with an axe 
and cut off his fingers. The police arrested the mother, 
saying : " We have found out who it is." Meanwhile the 
son arrived there and said : " She is not weeping for that ; 
she is weeping because I have cut off my fingers and can 
no longer work and earn my bread." The police saw it 
was so, believed him, and departed. At night they carried 
the body to the palace and built outside a scaffold to put 
the body on, because they had to carry it around three 
days. About the scaffold they placed nine sentinels — eight 
soldiers and a corporal. Now it was in the winter and was 
very cold ; so the son took a mule and loaded it with drugged 
wine, and passed up and down. When the soldiers saw 
him they cried : " Friend, are you selling that wine ? " He 
said : " I am." " Wait until we drink, for we are trembling 
with the cold." After they had drunk they threw them- 
selves down and went to sleep, and the son took the body, 
and, after he had buried it outside of the town, returned 
home. 

[In the morning the soldiers awoke and told the king 
what had happened, and he issued a proclamation that who- 
ever found the body should receive a large sum of money. 
The body was found and carried about the street again, but 
no one wept. That night new sentinels were appointed, 
but the same thing happened as the night before. The 
* Names of two undertakers in Salaparuta, where the story was collected. 



1 66 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

soldiers were drugged and dressed in monks' robes, and 
the corporal had a cross stuck between his legs. The next 
day another proclamation, the body again found and carried 
about, but no one detected weeping. The story then con- 
tinues :] 

The mason's son (here called for the first time Ninu) 
could not rest, and went to Cianedda.* " Will you do me 
a favor ? " " If I can," answered Cianedda ; " not one, but 
two. What can I do for you ? " " Will you lend me your 
goats this evening ? " " I will." Ninu took them, bought 
four rotula f of candles and an old earthen pot, knocked out 
the bottom and fastened some candles around it. Then he 
took the goats and fixed two candles to the horns of each 
one and took them where the body was, and followed with 
the pot on his head and the candles lighted. The soldiers 
ran away in terror, and the son took the body and threw it 
in the sea. 

[The next day the king commanded that the price of 
meat should be set at twelve tari % a rotulu, and ordered 
that all the old women of the city should assemble at the 
palace. A hundred came, and he told them to go begging 
about the city and find out who was cooking meat ; think- 
ing that only the thief could afford to buy meat at that 
price. Ninu, of course, bought some and gave it to his 
mother to cook. While it was cooking, and Ninu absent, one 
of the old women came begging, and the widow gave her 
a piece of meat. As she was going down-stairs Ninu met 
her and asked her what she was doing. She explained that 
she was begging for some bread. Ninu, suspecting the trick, 
took her and threw her into the well.] 

At noon, when the old women were to present themselves 
to the king, one was missing. The king then sent for the 
butchers, and found that just one rotulu of meat had been 
sold. When the king saw this, he issued a proclamation to 
find out who had done all these wonders, and said : " If he is 

* The name of a goatherd in Salaparuta. 
t A rotulu = .793 kilos. 
% Frs. 5.10. 



^STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 67 

unmarried, I will give him my daughter ; if he is married, I 
will give him two measures of gold." Ninu presented him- 
self to the king and said : " Your Majesty, it was I." The 
king burst out laughing, and asked : " Are you married or 
single?" He said: "Your Majesty, I am single." And 
the king said : " Will you be satisfied with my daughter, or 
with two measures of gold ? " "Your Majesty," he said, " I 
want to marry ; give me your daughter." So he did, and 
they had a grand banquet. 30 

The story in The Seven Wise Masters, known as " In- 
clusa" or "The Elopement," is found only in Pitre (No. 
176), where it is told of a tailor who lived next to the king's 
palace, with which his house communicated by a secret door 
known only to the king and the tailor's wife. The tailor, 
while at work in the palace, imagines he sees his wife there, 
and pretending that he has forgotten his shears, etc., rushes 
home to find his wife there. She finally elopes with the 
king, leaving at her window an image that deceives her 
husband until she is beyond pursuit. 31 

Far more curious than any of the stories above given is 
the last one we shall mention from The Seven Wise Mas- 
ters. The story in this collection known as "Avis," or 
"The Talking Bird," is briefly as follows : A jealous hus- 
band has a talking bird that is a spy upon his wife's ac- 
tions. In order to impair his confidence in the bird, one 
night while he is absent the wife orders a servant to 
shower water over the bird's cage, to make a heavy sound 
like thunder, and to imitate the flashing of lightning with 
candles. The bird, on its master's return, tells him of the 
terrific storm the night before, and is killed for its supposed 
falsehood. This story is found in both the Eastern and 
Western versions of The Seven Wise Masters, and prac- 
tically constitutes the framework of another famous Orien- 
tal collection, the (^ukasaptati (from guka, a parrot, and sap- 
tati, seventy, The Seventy Tales of a Parrot), better known 
by its Persian and Turkish name, Tuti-Nameh, Tales of a 
Parrot. 32 The frame, or groundwork, of the various Ori- 



1 68 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

ental versions is substantially the same. A husband is 
obliged to leave home on business, and while he is absent 
his wife engages in a love affair with a stranger. A parrot, 
which the husband has left behind, prevents the wife meet- 
ing her lover by telling her stories which interest her so 
much that she keeps putting off her appointment until her 
husband returns. In the Turkish version the parrot rec- 
onciles the husband and wife; in the Persian versions the 
parrot relates what has happened, and the faithless wife is 
killed. 

The Italian versions, as will soon be seen, are not derived 
from The Seven Wise Masters, but from the £ukasaptati ; 
and what is very curious, the framework has been retained 
and filled with stories that are not in the original. 33 The 
most simple version is from Pisa (Comparetti, No. i), and is 
called : 

XLV. THE PARROT (First Version). 

There was once a merchant who had a beautiful daughter, 
with whom the king and the viceroy were both in love. 
The former knew that the merchant would soon have to de- 
part on business, and he would then have a chance to speak 
with the girl. The viceroy knew it, too, and pondered on 
how he could prevent the king succeeding in his plan. He 
was acquainted with a witch, and promised her immunity 
and a large sum of money if she would teach him how to 
change himself into a parrot. This she did, and of course 
the merchant bought him for his daughter, and departed. 

When the parrot thought it was about time for the king 
to come, he said to the girl : " Now, to amuse you, I will 
tell you a story ; but you must attend to me and not see 
any one while I am telling it." Then he began his story, 
and after he had gone a little way in it a servant entered 
and told her mistress that there was a letter for her. " Tell 
her to bring it later," said the parrot, " and now listen to 
me." " I do not receive letters while my father is away," 
said the mistress, and the parrot continued. After a while 
another interruption. A servant announces the visit of an 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 69 

aunt. (It was not an aunt, but a woman who came from the 
king.) The parrot said : " Do not receive her ; we are in 
the finest part of our story," and the young girl sent word 
that she did not receive any visits while her father was ab- 
sent, and the parrot went on. When his story was ended the 
girl was so pleased that she would listen to no one else un- 
til her father returned. Then the parrot disappeared, and 
the viceroy visited the merchant and asked his daughter's 
hand. He consented, and the marriage took place that very 
day. The wedding was scarcely over when a gentleman 
came to ask the girl's hand for the king ; but it was too 
late, and the poor king, who was much in love with her, 
died of a broken heart, and the girl remained the wife of 
the viceroy, who had been more cunning than the king. 

We have omitted the story told by the parrot because we 
shall meet it again in the Sicilian version, and substantially 
in the following version from Florence, which we give en- 
tire on account of the rarity of the work in which it is 
found, and for its own merits. 34 It is also entitled : 



XLVI. THE PARROT. (Second Version.) 

Once upon a time there was a merchant who, having to 
go on a journey, gave his wife a parrot to amuse her in her 
loneliness. The wife, vexed that her husband should leave 
her so soon, threw the bird in a corner and thought no 
more about it. At evening she went to the window and 
saw pass a young man, who fell in love with her as soon as 
he saw her. On the first floor there lived a woman who 
sold coals, and the young man began to tempt her to help 
him in his love affair. She would not promise, because the 
merchant's wife had been married but a few days, and was 
an honest woman. She added, however, that there was a 
way ; her daughter was to be married shortly, she would 
invite the young wife to the wedding, and the young man, 
being there too, could manage the rest. The wife accepted 
the invitation, dressed herself in her finest clothes, and was 



170 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

on the point of leaving when the parrot cried from its cor- 
ner : " O mistress, where are you going ? I wished to tell 
you a story ; but suit yourself." The wife then dismissed 
the coal-woman, who, not to spoil matters, promised to put 
off the wedding and return for her the next day. Then 
the parrot began : 

" Once upon a time there was a king's son whose master 
was so learned in magic that with certain words he could 
change himself into various animals. The prince wanted 
to learn these words, too ; but the magician hesitated and 
refused, although he had to yield at last. Then the prince 
became a crow and flew far away to a distant country and 
into the garden of a king, where he saw a beautiful girl with 
a mirror in which was set her portrait. The crow in won- 
der snatched the glass from her hands, and flew home and 
resumed his own form, but he fell so deeply in love with the 
unknown girl that he became ill. 

" She, meanwhile, who was the daughter of a king, seeing 
the glass taken from her, no longer had any peace of mind, 
and begged her father until he gave her permission to go 
in search of it. She dressed herself like a physician and 
departed. She came to a city and heard a proclamation by 
the king, that whatever physician should pass that way 
should be obliged to visit and try to cure his daughter. 
Then the new physician had to go to the palace, but she 
could not discover any remedy for the grave disease. At 
night, while sitting by the princess' bed, the light went out, 
and she left the room to light it, and saw in a little cottage 
three old women sitting around a cauldron boiling over a 
great fire. ' Good women, are you washing ? ' ' What a 
washing ! these are three heads, and when they are cooked 
the princess will die.' ' Bravo, my good women ; bring 
the wood and I will help, too.' She remained there some 
time and promised to return. The brighter the fire burned, 
the nearer the princess came to death. The physician con- 
soled the king and had a fine supper prepared. The second 
night she carried food and a great deal of wine to the old 
women, and when they were drunk threw them into the fire 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 71 

and lifted off the cauldron with the boiling heads. The prin- 
cess recovered and the king wished to give her to the phy- 
sician and reward him with gems and gold, but the physi- 
cian would take nothing, and departed." 

"You know, mistress, it is late and I am tired," inter- 
rupted the parrot ; " I will tell you the rest to-morrow." 

The next day the woman who sold coals came again, and 
the merchant's wife was on the point of accompanying her ; 
but the parrot detained her, promising to finish the story. 
So the woman went away in anger, and the parrot contin- 
ued : 

" The princess disguised as a physician journeyed until 
she came to another city, and heard a proclamation by the 
king, that every physician who passed that way should be 
forced to visit and attempt to cure his son. The new phy- 
sician, too, had to go to court ; but could find no remedy for 
the severe disease. At night, while sitting at the bedside of 
the prince, she heard a loud noise in the next room : went 
to the door and saw three old women, who were preparing a 
banquet. Afterwards they approached the invalid, anointed 
him from head to foot, and carried him healed to the table ; 
then when they were full of wine and merry, they anointed 
him again and replaced him on his bed worse than before. 
The physician comforted the king, and the second night 
allowed the witches to take the prince to the table, then 
appeared and frightening the old women with threats of 
the king's anger drove them from the room and restored 
the son to his father. The king, well pleased, wished to 
recompense the physician, who would take nothing, and de- 
parted." 

"But you know, mistress, it is late and I am weary. I 
will tell you the rest to-morrow." 

The next day the woman who sold coals returned, and the 
merchant's wife was on the point of following her ; but the 
parrot detained her, promising to finish the story. The 
woman went away angry, and the parrot continued : 

"After a long journey the princess disguised as a physi- 
cian came to another city, and heard a proclamation by the 



172 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

king, that every physician who passed that way should be 
compelled to visit and attempt to cure his son. The new 
physician, too, had to go to court ; but she could find no 
remedy for the severe disease. The prince would speak to 
no one, but the physician at last made the invalid disclose 
the secret of his heart, and he told of the mirror and showed 
the portrait of the unknown lady whom he loved desper- 
ately. The physician consoled the king ; had garments 
and ornaments exactly like those of the young girl in the 
glass prepared; dressed in them, and as she appeared be- 
fore the prince he leaped from his bed, embracing his be- 
trothed in the midst of rejoicings." 

But here the lady hears her husband arriving. Joy makes 
her beside herself; and she throws from the window the 
poor parrot, which now seems to her only a tiresome com- 
panion. The merchant enters and inquires about the bird ; 
sees the parrot hurt upon the neighboring roof and picks it 
up kindly. The parrot narrates to him the wiles of the 
coal-woman and its own prudence ; assures the husband 
that his wife is innocent ; but complains of her being so 
ungrateful ; she had promised him a gold vase, and now 
treats him thus. The merchant consoles the dying bird, 
and afterwards has him embalmed and placed in the gold 
vase. As for his wife, he loved her more than ever. 

Another version from Piedmont (Comparetti, No. 2 ; De 
Gub. Zool. Myth. II. 322) differs materially from the ones 
just given. A king is obliged to go to war and leave behind 
him his wife, with whom another king is in love. Before 
parting he forbids his wife to leave the palace during his 
absence, and presents her with a parrot. No sooner has 
the king departed than his rival attempts to obtain an inter- 
view with the queen by giving a feast and inviting her to it. 
The parrot prevents her going by relating the story con- 
tained in the first version. They are interrupted in the 
same manner by an old woman sent by the lover, but to no 
purpose. When the story is finished, the husband returns, 
and the parrot becomes a young man, whom the king had 
engaged to watch over his wife's fidelity. 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 73 

The Sicilian version of our story is the most interesting 
as well as the most complete of all ; the single story in the 
continental versions has been expanded into three, and the 
frame is more artistic. The story is the second in Pitre, 
and is as follows : 



XLVII. THE PARROT WHICH TELLS THREE STORIES. 
(Third Version.) 

Once upon a time there was a rich merchant who wanted 
to marry, and who happened to find a wife as good as the 
day was long, and who loved her husband desperately. 
One day she saw him a little annoyed, and said : " What 
makes you feel so ? " " What should make me feel so ! I 
have important business to attend to, and must go and see 
to it on the spot." " And are you annoyed about that ? let 
us arrange matters thus : you will leave me provisions and 
close up all the doors and windows but one high up ; make 
me a wicket, and then depart." " The advice pleases me," 
said her husband, and he laid in at once a large provision 
of bread, flour, oil, coals, and everything ; had all the doors 
and windows closed up but one, to take the air, had a wicket 
made like those in the convents, and departed, and the wife 
remained with her maid. The next day a servant called at 
the wicket to do what was necessary and then went away. 
After ten days the lady began to be oppressed, and had a 
great mind to cry. The maid said : " There is a remedy 
for everything, my mistress ; let us draw the table up to 
the window, and climb up and enjoy the sight of the Corso." 
They did so, and the lady looked out. " Ah ! I thank you, 
sirs ! " As she uttered the ah ! opposite her was a notary's 
office, and there were the notary and a cavalier. They 
turned and saw this beautiful young woman. " Oh ! what 
a handsome woman! I must speak with her !" said the cav- 
alier. " No : I will speak first," said the notary. And " I 
first," and " I first." They laid a wager of four hundred 
ounces as to who would speak with her first. The lady 
perceived them and withdrew from the window. 



174 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES., 

The notary and the cavalier thought about the bet, and 
had no rest running here and there and trying to speak 
with the lady. At last the notary in despair went out into 
the fields and began to call his demon. The demon ap- 
peared and the notary told him everything, saying : " And 
this cavalier wishes to have the advantage of speaking with 
the lady first." " What will you give me ?" said the demon. 
" My soul." " Then see what you have to do ; I will change 
you into a parrot and you must fly and alight on the win- 
dow of the lady. The maid will take you and have a silver 
cage made for you and put you in it. The cavalier will 
find an old woman who is able to make the lady leave the 
house. But she will not make her leave, you know. You 
must say : ' My pretty mamma, sit down while I tell you 
a story.' The old woman will come thrice ; you must tear 
out your feathers and fly into a passion and say always : 
' My pretty mamma, don't go with that old woman, she will 
betray you ; sit down while I tell you a story.' And then 
tell her any story you wish." 

The demon ended with : " Man you are, become a par- 
rot ! " and the parrot flew away to the window. The maid 
saw it and caught it with her handkerchief. When the lady 
saw the parrot she said : " How beautiful you are ! Now 
you will be my consolation." " Yes, pretty mamma, I will 
love you, too." The lady had a silver cage made, and shut 
the parrot up in it. 

Let us leave the parrot in the cage, and return to the 
cavalier, who was making desperate efforts to see the lady. 
An old woman met him, and asked him what the matter 
was. " Must I tell you what the matter is ? " and dismissed 
her ; but the old woman was persistent. At last to get rid 
of her he told her all about the wager. The old woman 
said : " I am able to make you speak with the lady. You 
must have prepared for me two handsome baskets of early 
fruit." The cavalier was so anxious to see the lady that he 
had the baskets of early fruit prepared and given to her. 
With these things the old woman went to the wicket, pre- 
tending that she was the lady's grandmother. The lady 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. I J$ 

believed her. One word brings on another. " Tell me, my 
granddaughter, you are always shut up, but don't you hear 
mass Sundays ? " " How could I hear it shut up ? " " Ah, 
my daughter, you will be damned. No, this is not well. 
You must hear mass Sundays. To-day is a feast day ; let 
us go to mass." 

While the lady was being persuaded, the parrot began to 
lament. When its mistress opened the clothespress, the 
parrot said : " My pretty mamma, don't go, for the old 
woman will betray you. If you don't go I will tell you a 
story." The lady took an idea into her head. " Now, my 
grandmother," she said, "go away, for I cannot come." 
And the old woman went away. When she had gone, the 
lady went to the parrot, which related to her this story : 

FIRST STORY OF THE PARROT. 

Once upon a time there was a king who had an only 
daughter, who was very fond of dolls, and had one that was 
her delight. She dressed her and undressed her and put 
her to bed, in short did for her what is done for children. 
One day the king wished to go into the country, and the 
princess wished to take the doll. While they were walking 
about, in a moment of forgetfulness, she left her doll on a 
hedge. It was meal time, and after they had eaten they got 
into the carriage and returned to the royal palace. What 
do you suppose the princess forgot ? the doll ! 

As soon as they arrived at the palace the princess re- 
membered the doll. What did she do ? Instead of going 
up-stairs, she turned round and went to look for the doll. 
When she got outdoors, she became lost and wandered 
about like a person bereft of her senses. After a time she 
came to a royal palace and asked who was the king of that 
palace. " The King of Spain," they said. She asked for a 
lodging. She entered ; the king gave her lodging and 
treated her like a daughter. She made herself at home in 
the palace and began to be the mistress. The king had no 
daughters and gave her liberty to do as she pleased in spite 



176 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

of twelve royal damsels. Now, as there is envy among 
equals, the damsels began to oppose her. Said they : "Just 
see ! Who knows who she is ? and is she to be our prin- 
cess ? Now this thing must stop ! " The next day they 
said to the princess : " Will you come with us ? " " No, 
because papa does not wish it. If he is willing, I will 
come." " Do you know what you must do to make him let 
you come ? tell him : ' By the soul of his daughter he must 
let you go.' When he hears that, he will let you go at 
once." The princess did so, but when the king heard her 
say: "By the soul of his daughter!" "Ah! wretch," ex- 
claimed the king ; " quick, throw her down the trap-door !" 
When the princess fell down the trap-door she found a 
door, then another, and another, always feeling her way 
along. At a certain point she felt with her hands like the 
blind, and found tinder and matches. She then lighted a 
candle which she found there, and saw a beautiful young 
girl, with a padlock on her mouth, so that she could not 
speak, but she made signs that the key to open it with was 
under the pillow of the bed. The princess got it and 
opened the padlock ; then the young girl spoke, and said 
that she was the daughter of the king whom a magician had 
stolen. This magician brought her, every day, something 
to eat, and then locked up her mouth, and she had to wait 
until the next day to open it again. " But tell me," said 
the princess, " what way is there to free you ? " " How do 
I know ? I can do nothing but ask the magician when he 
opens my mouth ; you hide under the bed and listen, and 
afterwards think what has to be done." "Good ! good !" 
The princess locked her mouth, put the key under the pil- 
low, and crawled under the bed. But at midnight a great 
noise was heard ; the earth opened, lightning, smoke, and 
smell of sulphur, and the magician appeared in a magician's 
robe. With the magician was a giant with a bowl of food, 
and two servants with two torches. The magician sent 
away the servants, and locked the doors, took the key, and 
opened the mouth of the king's daughter. While they 
were eating, she said : " Magician, I have a thought : out 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 177 

of curiosity I would like to know what it would be neces- 
sary for me to do to escape from here." " You want to 
know a great deal, my daughter ! " " Never mind, I don't 
care to know." " However, I will tell you. It would be 
necessary to make a mine all around the palace, and pre- 
cisely at midnight, when I am on the point of entering, to 
explode the mine : you will find yourself with your father, 
and I will fly up in the air." " It 's as if you had not told 
any one," said the young girl. The magician dressed him- 
self and went away. After a few hours the princess came 
out from under the bed, took leave of her little sister, for 
she already called her " little sister," and departed. 

She went back to the trap-door and, at a certain point, 
stopped and called for help. The king heard her, and had 
a rope lowered. The princess climbed up and related 
everything to the king. He was astounded, and began the 
mine, which he had filled with shot, powder, and balls. 
When it was full to the brim, the princess descended with 
a watch and went to the king's daughter : " Either both 
dead, or both alive ! " When she entered the room, she 
said : " It is I," took the lock from her mouth, talked with 
her, and then concealed herself under the bed. At mid- 
night the magician came, and the king was on the lookout, 
with his watch in his hand. As the clock struck twelve, 
the princess fired the mine : boom ! and a great noise was 
heard : the magician vanished, and the two young girls 
found themselves free and in each other's arms. When 
the king saw them, he exclaimed : " Ah ! my daughters ! 
your misfortune was your good fortune. My crown be- 
longs to you," said he to the princess whom he had adopted. 
" No, your Majesty, for I am a king's daughter, and I, too, 
have a crown." 

This matter spread over the world, and her fame passed 
through all the kingdoms, and every one talked of nothing 
but the great courage and goodness of this princess who 
had delivered the other princess from the magician. And 
they remained happy and always enjoyed holy peace. 



178 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

" What do you think, pretty mamma, of this story ? " 
"It is very fine," said the lady to the parrot. 

A week passed after the story ; the old woman again 
came with two other baskets of fruit to her granddaughter : 
" Pretty idea ! " said the parrot. " Take care, pretty mamma ; 
the old woman is coming." The old woman said : " Come, 
my daughter, are you going to mass ? " " Yes, my grand- 
mother ; " and the lady began dressing herself. When the 
parrot saw her dressing herself it began to tear out its 
feathers and weep : " No, pretty mamma, don't go to mass ; 
that old woman will ruin you. If you will stay with me, I 
will tell you another story." "Now go away," said the 
lady to the old woman, "for I cannot kill my dear little 
parrot, for the sake of the mass." "Ah ! wicked woman! 
to lose your soul for an animal ! " The old woman went 
away and the parrot told this story : 

SECOND STORY OF THE PARROT. 

Well then, my lady, there was once upon a time a king 
who had an only daughter as beautiful as the sun and moon. 
When she was eighteen a Turkish king wished to marry 
her. When she heard that it was a Turkish king she said : 
" What do I want of Turks ! " and refused him. Shortly 
after she became very ill, convulsions, twisting of the body, 
rolling of her eyes to the back of her head, and the doctors 
did not know what was the matter. The poor father in 
confusion called his council together, and said : " Gentle- 
men, my daughter is losing ground every day ; what advice 
do you give me?" The sages said : "Your Majesty, there 
is a young girl who found the daughter of the King of 
Spain ; * find her and she will tell you what must be done 
for your daughter." " Bravo ! the council has been favor- 
able." The king ordered vessels to go for this young girl : 
" And if the King of Spain will not let her go, give him 
this iron glove and declare war!" The vessels departed 
and reached Spain one morning. They fired a salute, the 

* The princess of the last story. 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 1 79 

ambassador landed, presented himself to the king, and gave 
him a sealed letter. The king opened it and after reading 
it began to weep and said : " I prefer war, and I will not 
give up this girl." Meanwhile the girl entered : "What is 
the matter, your Majesty ? (and she saw the letter). What 
are you afraid of ? I will go at once to this king." " How, 
my daughter, will you then leave me thus ?" "I will return. 
I will go and see what is the matter with this young girl 
and then come back." 

She took leave of her half-sister and departed. When 
she arrived the king went to meet her : " My daughter, if 
you cure this sick daughter of mine, I will give you my 
crown!" "That makes two crowns !" she said to herself. 
" I have a crown, your Majesty. Let us see what the mat- 
ter is, and never mind the crowns." She went and saw the 
princess all wasted away. She turned to the king and said : 
"Your Majesty! have some broth and substantial things 
made," and they were prepared at once. " I am going to 
shut myself up with your daughter, and you must not open 
the door, for in three days I will give her to you alive or 
dead. And listen to what I say : even if I should knock 
you must not open." Everything was arranged and the 
door was fastened with chains and padlocks, but they for- 
got the tinder to light the candle with at night. In the 
evening there was great confusion. The young girl did not 
wish to knock, and as she looked out of the window she saw 
a light at a distance. So she descended by a ladder of silk, 
taking with her a candle. When she drew near the light she 
saw a large cauldron placed on some stones and a furnace 
under it, and a Turk who was stirring it with a stick. 
" What are you doing, Turk ? " " My king wanted the 
daughter of the king, she did not want him, he is bewitch- 
ing her." "My poor little Turk! You are tired, are you 
not ? do you know what you must do ? rest yourself a little 
while I stir." " I will, by Mahomet ! " He got down ; she 
got up and began to stir with the stick. " Am I doing it 
all right thus ? " " Yes, by Mahomet." " Well then, you take 
a nap, and I will stir." When he was asleep, she came 



l80 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

down, seized him, and threw him into the boiling cauldron, 
where he died. When she saw that he was dead, she 
lighted her candle and' returned to the palace. She entered 
the room and found the invalid had fainted on the floor. 
She brought her to with cologne water (acqua d' oduri) and 
in three days she had recovered. Then she knocked at the 
door and the king entered, beside himself at finding his 
daughter cured. " Ah ! my daughter," he said to the young 
girl who had healed her, " how much we owe you ! you 
must remain here with me." " It is impossible ; you threat- 
ened my father with war if he did not allow me to come ; 
now my father declares war with you if you do not let me 
return to him." She remained there a fortnight, then de- 
parted, and the king gave her quantities of riches and jew- 
els. She returned to the king of Spain's palace. 
And so the story ends. 

" What did you think of the story, pretty mamma ? " said 
the parrot. " Beautiful, beautiful." " But you must not 
go with the old woman, because there is treason." 

After a week the old woman came with her baskets. 
" My daughter, you must do me this pleasure to-day, come 
and hear the holy mass." " I will." When the parrot heard 
that, he began to weep and tear out his feathers : " No, my 
pretty mamma, don't go with the old woman. If you will 
stay, I will tell you another story." " Grandmother mine," 
says she, " I can't come, for I don't wish to lose the parrot 
for your sake." She closed the wicket and the old woman 
went away grumbling and cursing. The lady then seated 
herself near the parrot, which told this story : 

THIRD STORY OF THE PARROT. 

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who 
had an only son, whose sole diversion was the chase. Once 
he wished to go hunting at a distance, and took with him his 
attendants. Where do you think he happened to go ? To 
the country where the doll was.* When he saw the doll 

* The doll of the first story. 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. l8l 

he said : " I have finished my hunt, let us return home ! " 
He took the doll and placed it before him on the horse, 
and exclaimed every few minutes : " How beautiful this 
doll is ! think of its mistress ! " When he reached the 
palace he had a glass case made in the wall, and put the 
doll in it, and kept looking at it continually and saying : 
" How beautiful the doll is ! think of the mistress ! " 

The young man would not see any one and became so 
melancholy that his father summoned the physicians, who 
said : " Your Majesty, we know nothing of this illness ; see 
what he does with his doll." The king went to see his 
son and found him gazing at the doll, and exclaiming : 
" Oh ! how beautiful the doll is ! think of the mistress ! " 
The physicians departed as wise as when they came. The 
prince meanwhile did nothing but sit and look at the doll, 
and draw deep breaths, and sigh, and exclaim : " How beau- 
tiful the doll is ! think of the mistress ! " The king at 
last, in despair, summoned his council, and said : " See 
how my son is reduced ! He has no fever, or pain in his 
head, but he is wasting away, and some one else will enjoy 
my kingdom ! Give me advice." " Majesty, are you per- 
plexed ? Is there not that young girl who found the King 
of Spain's daughter, and cured the other princess ? Send 
for her. If her father will not let her come, declare war 
with him." 

The king sent his ambassadors with the message that 
the young girl should be sent nolens volens. While the 
ambassadors were in the king's presence, his daughter en- 
tered, the one who had done the wonders, and found her 
father perplexed : " What is the matter, your Majesty ? " 
" Nothing, my daughter. Another occasion has arrived, 
another king wants you. Does he mean that I am no 
longer your master?" "Never mind, your Majesty; let 
me go ; I will soon return." 

So she embarked with all her attendants and began her 
journey. When she arrived where the prince was, she saw 
him drawing such deep breaths that it seemed as if he 
would swallow himself, and always exclaiming : " Oh ! how 



1 82 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

beautiful the doll is ! think of the mistress ! " She said : 
" You have called me none too soon ! However, give me a 
week : bring me ointments, food ; and in a week, alive and 
well, or dead." 

She shut herself up with him and listened to hear what 
the prince said, for she had not yet heard what he was say- 
ing, he was so feeble. When she heard him whisper : " Oh ! 
how be-au-ti-ful is the doll ; con-sid-er," and saw the doll, 
she cried : " Ah ! wretch ! it was you who had my doll ! 
Leave it to me, I will cure you." When he heard these 
words he came to himself and said : " Are you the doll's 
mistress ? " "I am." Just think ! he returned to life and 
she began to give him broth until she had restored him. 
When he was restored she said : " Now tell me how you 
got the doll," and the prince told her everything. To 
make the matter short, in a week the prince was cured, and 
they declared that they would marry each other. The king, 
beside himself with joy because his son was healed, wrote 
several letters : one to the King of Spain to tell him that 
his daughter had found her doll, another to the other king, 
her father, to tell him that his daughter was found, and an- 
other to the king whose daughter she had cured. After- 
wards all these monarchs came together and made great 
festivals, and the prince married the princess, and they lived 
together in great peace. 

" Has this story pleased you, pretty mamma?" "Yes, 
my son." "But you must not go with the old woman, you 
know." 

After the story was ended a servant came : " My lady, 
my lady, the master is coming ! " " Truly ! " said the lady. 
" Now, parrot, listen ; I will have a new cage made for you." 
The master arrived, the windows were all opened, and he 
embraced his wife. At dinner they placed the parrot in 
the middle of the table, and when the joy was at its height 
the bird threw some soup in its master's eyes. The master, 
when he felt it, put his hands to his eyes, and the parrot 
darted at his throat, strangled him, and flew away. 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 



183 



He flew away to the country, and saying, " I am a parrot, 
and I become a man," he was changed into a handsome, 
cunning, and well-kempt man on the Corso. He met the 
cavalier : " Do you know," said this one, " that the poor 
lady's husband is dead ? a parrot strangled him ! " " Truly ? 
poor woman ! poor woman ! " said the notary, and went his 
way without speaking of the wager. The notary learned 
that the lady had a mother, and went to her to ask her 
daughter in marriage. After hesitating, the lady finally 
said yes, and they were married. That evening the notary 
said to the lady : " Now tell me, who killed your husband ? " 
" A parrot." " And what about this parrot ? " The lady told 
him everything to where the parrot dashed the broth in its 
master's eyes, and then flew away. " True ! true ! " said 
the notary. " Was I not the parrot ? " " It was you ! I am 
amazed." "It was I, and I became a parrot for your 
sake ! " 

The next day the notary went to the cavalier to get the 
four hundred ounces of the wager, which he enjoyed with 
his wife. 

The three stories related by the parrot are, as has been 
seen, in reality one story, and they are, in fact found as 
such independent of the frame. 85 It has also been seen 
that the story or stories related by the parrot are, substan- 
tially, the same in all the versions. The Florentine version 
alone does not contain the episode of the doll. The story, 
as a whole, has no parallels, although it bears a slight re- 
semblance to the story in the Pentamerone (II. 2), " Green 
Meadow." The princess as physician, and the secret malady 
of the prince or princess, are traits which abound in all the 
popular tales of Europe. 36 

Many single stories of Oriental origin will be found in 
the chapters following. We shall close this one with a 
story which was popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, 
being found in one of the great collections of that period, 
the Gesta Romanorum. Of the various Italian versions we 
shall select one from Pomig-liano d'Arco called : 



1 84 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

XLVIII. TRUTHFUL JOSEPH. 

Once upon a time there was a mother who had a son 
named Joseph ; and because he never told a lie she called 
him Truthful Joseph. One day when she was calling him, 
the king happened to pass by, and hearing her call him 
thus, asked her : "Why do you call him Truthful Joseph ? " 
" Because he never tells a lie." Then the king said that he 
would like to have him in his service, and set him to keep- 
ing his cows. Every morning Joseph presented himself to 
the king, and said: "Your Majesty's servant." The king 
answered : " Good morning, Truthful Joseph. How are the 
cows ? " " Well and fat." " How are the calves ? " " Well 
and handsome." " How is the bull ? " "The same." So he 
did every morning. The king praised him so highly in the 
presence of all his courtiers that they became angry at 
him ; and one day, to make Joseph a liar, they sent to him 
a lady, who was to induce him by her words to kill the bull. 
Joseph was urged so strongly that he consented ; but after- 
wards he was in great perplexity as to what he should tell 
the king. So he put his cloak on a chair and pretended 
that it was the king, and said: "Your Majesty's servant. 
Good morning, Truthful Joseph. How are the cows ? 
Well and fat. How are the calves ? Well and handsome. 
How is the bull ? The same. But no ; that will not do ! 
I am telling a lie ! When the king asks me how the bull 
is, I will tell him that it is dead." 

He presented himself to the king and said : " Your 
Majesty's servant." " Good morning, Truthful Joseph. 
How are the cows ? " " Well and fat." " How are the 
calves ? " " Well and handsome." " How is the bull ? " 
"Your Majesty, a lady came and with her manners made 
me kill the bull. Pardon me." The king answered : 
" Bravo, Truthful Joseph ! " He summoned his courtiers 
and showed them that Joseph had not yet told any lie. 
And so Joseph remained always with the king, and the 
courtiers were duped, because they gained nothing that 
they had expected. 37 



CHAPTER IV. 

LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 

The Italian people possess an inexhaustible store of 
legends which they have inherited from the Middle Ages. 
With the great mass of these stories — legends of the saints 
or local legends — we have at present nothing to do. It is 
enough to say that they do not differ materially from the 
legends of the other Catholic peoples of Europe. The class 
to which we shall devote our attention in this chapter is 
that of popular legendary stories which have clustered 
around the person of our Lord and his disciples, and around 
other favorite characters of mediaeval fancy, such as Pilate, 
The Wandering Jew, etc. To these may be added tales 
relating to the other world and stories which are of a legen- 
dary nature. The first stories which we shall mention are 
those referring to mythical journeys of our Lord and his 
apostles. 

The first, "St. Peter and the Robbers" (Pitre, No. 121), 
relates that once while the Master was journeying with the 
apostles they found themselves at night out in the fields, 
and took shelter in a cabin belonging to some shepherds, 
who received them very inhospitably and gave them noth- 
ing to eat. Soon after, a band of robbers attacked the 
flock and robbed the shepherds, who ran away. The rob- 
bers came to the cabin, and when they heard from the apos- 
tles how shabbily they had been treated, gave them the 
supper that the shepherds had prepared for themselves, and 
went their way. " Blessed be the robbers ! " said St. Peter, 
" for they treat the hungry poor better than the rich do." 
" Blessed be the robbers ! " said the apostles, and ate their 
fill. 

This story, as can easily be seen, is a tradition of the 



1 86 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

robbers who pretend to have been blessed by Christ. St. 
Peter is the hero of several stories, in which he plays any- 
thing but a dignified role. In one (Pitre, No. 122), he is 
sent to buy some wine, and allows himself to be persuaded 
by the wine merchant to eat some fennel-seed. After this 
he cannot distinguish between good and bad wine, and pur- 
chases an inferior kind. When the Master tasted it he 
said : " Eh ! Peter ! Peter ! you have let yourself be de- 
ceived." * Peter tasted it again and saw that it was sour. 
Another apostle was sent to get some good wine, and 
" hence it is that when you have to taste wine to see whether 
it is good, you must not eat fennel-seed." 

L. THE LORD, ST. PETER, AND THE APOSTLES. 

Once, while the Master was on a journey with the thir- 
teen apostles, they came to a village where there was no 
bread. The Master said : " Peter, let each one of you carry 
a stone." They each took up a stone — St. Peter a little bit 
of a one. The others were all loaded down, but St. Peter 
went along very easily. The Master said : " Now let us go 
to another village. If there is any bread there, we shall buy 
it ; if there is none, I will give you my blessing and the 
stones will become bread." 

They went to another town, put the stones down, and 
rested. The Master gave them his blessing, and the stones 
became bread. St. Peter, who had carried a little one, felt 
his heart grow faint. "Master," he said, "how am I going 
to eat ? " " Eh ! my brother, why aid you carry a little 
stone ? The others, who loaded themselves down, have 
bread enough." 

Then they went on, and the Master made them each 
carry another stone. St. Peter was cunning this time and 
took a large one and all the others carried small ones. The 
Lord said to the others : " Little ones, we will have a laugh 
at Peter's expense." They arrived at another village, and 

* This story is an attempt to explain the origin of the word 'nfinucchiari 
(infinocchiare) to impose on one, by the wordjinocr/izo, fennel-seed. 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 1 87 

all the apostles threw away their stones because there was 
bread there ; and St. Peter was bent double, for he had car- 
ried a paving-stone with him to no purpose. 

On their journey they met a man ; and as St. Peter was 
in advance of the others, he said : " The Lord is coming 
shortly ; ask Him a favor for your soul." The man drew 
near and said : " Lord, my father is ill with old age. Cure 
him, Master." The Lord said : " Am I a physician ? Do 
you know what you must do ? Put him in a hot oven and 
your father will become a boy again." They did so, and 
his father became a little boy. 

The idea pleased St. Peter, and when he found himself 
alone he went about seeking to make some old men young. 
By chance there met him one who was seeking the Master 
because his mother was at the point of death and he wanted 
her cured. St. Peter said : " What do you want ? " " I 
want the Master, for I have an old mother who is very ill, 
and the Master alone can cure her." "Fortunately Peter 
is here ! Do you know what you must do ? Heat an oven 
and put her in it, and she will be cured." The poor man 
believed him, for he knew that the Lord loved St. Peter, so 
he went home and immediately put his mother in the hot 
oven. What more could you expect ? The old woman was 
burned to a coal. "Ah! santu di cca e di dda /"* cried the 
son ; "that scurvy fellow has made me kill my mother ! " 
He hastened to St. Peter. The Master was present, and 
when he heard the story could not control his laughter, 
and said : " Ah, Peter ! what have you done ? " St. Peter 
tried to excuse himself, but the poor man kept crying for 
his mother. What must the Master do ? He had to go to 
the house of the dead, and with a blessing which he there 
pronounced he brought the old woman to life again, a 
beautiful young girl, and relieved St. Peter of his great em- 
barrassment. 

The last anecdote is quite popular, and is found in a num- 
ber of popular stories, as well as in the Cento Novelle An- 
* This is the strongest imprecation in Sicily. 



1 88 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

tiche} A very amusing version is from Venice (Widter- 
Wolf, No. 5), and is entitled : 

LI. THE LORD, ST. PETER, AND THE BLACKSMITH. 

In a little town about as large as Sehio or Thiene once 
lived a master-smith, — a good, industrious, and skilful 
man, but so proud of his skill that he would not deign 
to reply to anyone who did not address him as "Professor." 
This pride in a man otherwise so blameless gave universal 
dissatisfaction. One day our Lord appeared in the black- 
smith's shop, accompanied by St. Peter, whom He was al- 
ways in the habit of taking with Him on such excursions. 
" Professor," said the Lord, " will you be so good as to per- 
mit me to do a little work at your forge ? " " Why not ? it 
is at your service," replied the flattered smith. " What do 
you wish to make ? " " That you will soon see," said the 
Lord, and took up a pair of tongs, with which he seized 
Peter and held him in the forge until he was red-hot. Then 
he drew him out and hammered him on all sides, and in 
less than ten minutes the old bald-headed apostle was forged 
anew into a wonderfully handsome youth with beautiful 
hair. The blacksmith stood speechless with astonishment, 
while the Lord and St. Peter exchanged the most courteous 
thanks and compliments. Finally the master-smith recov- 
ered himself and ran straight up to the second story, where 
his sick old father lay in bed. " Father," he cried, " come 
quickly ! I have just learned how to make a strong young 
man of you." " My son, have you lost your senses ? " said 
the old man, half terrified. " No ; only believe me. I have 
just seen it myself." Finding that the old man protested 
against the attempt, his son seized him forcibly, carried him 
to the shop, and in spite of his shrieks and entreaties, 
thrust him into the forge, but brought nothing out but a 
piece of charred leg, which fell to pieces at the first blow of 
the hammer. Then he was seized with anguish and re- 
morse. He ran quickly in search of the two men, and for- 
tunately found them in the market-place. " Sir," he cried, 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 1 89 

" what have you done ? You have misled me. I wanted to 
imitate your skill, and I have burned my father alive ! 
Come with me quickly, and help me, if you can ! " Then 
the Lord smiled graciously, and said : " Go home com- 
forted. You will find your father alive and well, but an old 
man again." And so he did find him, to his great joy. 
From that time his pride disappeared, and whenever any 
one called him " Professor " he would exclaim : " Ah, what 
folly that is ! There are gentlemen in Venice and profes- 
sors in Padua, but I am a bungler." 

The version in Knust is different. It is called " A Jour- 
ney of Our Saviour on Earth," and is, in substance, as fol- 
lows : A father whose son is a gambler, makes him become 
a soldier. The son deserts during a stormy night and 
takes refuge in an inn. There he meets a man who seems 
acquainted with his whole life and whose name is Salvatore 
(Saviour). He knows that Peter has deserted and is pur- 
sued, but he will save him. To gain a livelihood, he proposes 
to him to travel together and heal the sick. An opportunity 
to do this is soon offered. A rich man is ill, and Salvatore 
promises to heal him in three days. He makes every one 
withdraw, prepares a potion from herbs, and cures the pa- 
tient. The relatives of the rich man offer in their gratitude 
all manner of costly things to Salvatore, who, however, ac- 
cepts only enough to support life. Such an unreasonable 
proceeding enrages his companion to such a degree that he 
parts from him. He wishes to cure people independently, 
and promises a king to heal his sick daughter at once. But 
although he does everything exactly like Salvatore, the only 
effect of the potion is to kill the princess. As soon as the 
king learns this, he has Peter thrown into prison. On his 
way there he meets Salvatore, who is ready to help him at 
his request. The latter goes to the king and promises to 
raise his daughter if he will release to him the prisoner. 
The king consents, but threatens Salvatore with death in 
case of failure. The dead, however, comes to life, and in 
gratitude offers her hand, through her father, to Salvatore, 



190 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

who declares that it is his vocation to wander over the 
earth. He asks that the maiden be given to his companion. 2 
In a story from Venice our Lord and St. Peter are hos- 
pitably received by a poor woman who has no bed to offer 
them, but makes up one for them from some straw and five 
ells of linen which she has bought that day. When the 
Lord departs the next morning he bestows on the woman 
the power of doing all day the first thing she does in the 
morning. She begins by taking the linen from the bed of 
her guests, and pulls off piece after piece of linen. A friend 
of hers learns this and determines to do the same, but is 
punished by the Lord for her selfishness. 3 



LII. IN THIS WORLD ONE WEEPS AND ANOTHER 

LAUGHS. 

Once the Lord, while he was making the world, called 
one of the apostles and told him to look and see what the 
people were doing. The apostle looked and said : " How 
curious ! the people are weeping." The Lord answered : 
" It is not the world yet ! " The next day he bade the 
apostle look again and see what the people were doing. 
The apostle looked and saw the people laughing, and said : 
"The people are laughing." The Lord answered: "It is 
not the world yet." The third day he made him look again, 
and the apostle saw that some were weeping, and some 
were laughing, and said : " Some of the people are weeping, 
and some are laughing." The Lord said : " Now it is the 
world, because in this world one weeps and another laughs." 

The next legend accounts for the ass' long ears. 

LIII. THE ASS. 

It is related that when the Lord created the world, he 
also made all the animals, and gave each its name. He 
also created the ass, which said : " Lord, what is my name ? " 
" Your name is ass ! " The ass went away well pleased. 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 191 

After a while it forgot its name, and went back to the Lord. 
" Lord, what is my name ? " " Ass ! " After a while it 
came back again. " Excuse me, Lord, what is my name ? " 
" Ass, ass ! " The ass turned and went away, but forgot it 
another time, and came back. " Lord, I have forgotten my 
name." The Lord could, not stand it any longer, but seized 
its ears and pulled them sharply, exclaiming : " Ass ! Ass ! 
Ass ! " The ears were pulled so hard that they became 
long, and that is why the ass has long ears, and why we pull 
a person's ears to keep him from forgetting a thing. 

Another legend relates that when Christ was journeying 
through the world he happened, dying with thirst, to enter 
a town. He saw a woman combing her hair, and said : 
" Will you give me a drink of water ? for I am dying of 
thirst." " I am busy ; it is not the time for water ! " Christ 

said at once : 

" Cursed be the braid 
That is braided Friday." 

And continued his journey. After a time he saw a woman 
making dough for bread. " Good woman, will you give me 
a drink of water ? " " As much as you will ! " and went 
and drew some water and gave him. Christ said : 

" Blessed be the dough 
That is kneaded on Friday." 

Hence it is that certain women are accustomed not to comb 
their hair on Friday. 

There is a satirical legend, called "The Lord's Will," 
which relates that when Christ came to leave the world, 
he was in doubt as to whom to leave all on the earth. If 
he left it to the gentlemen, what would the nobility do ? if 
to the nobility, what would become of the gentry, and the 
workmen, and the peasants ? While He was reflecting, the 
noblemen came and asked the Lord to give them everything, 
which he did. Then the priests came ; and when they 
were told that everything had been given to the nobility, 
" Oh ! the devil ! " they exclaimed. " Then I leave you the 
devil," said the Lord. To the monks, who, when they 



I92 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

heard what had been done, exclaimed, " Patience ! " patience 
was left. The workmen cried : " What a fraud ! " and re- 
ceived that for their share. Finally the peasants came and 
said, with resignation : " Let us do the will of God ; " and 
that was their portion. And this is the reason why in this 
world the noblemen command, the priests are helped by the 
devil, the monks are patient, workmen fraudulent, and the 
peasants have to do many things they don't want to, and 
are obliged to submit to the will of God. 4 

St. Peter's mother is the subject of a story which has 
given rise to a wide-spread proverb. She was, so runs the 
story, an avaricious woman, who never was known to do 
good to any one. In fact, during her whole life she never 
gave anything away, except the top of an onion to a beggar 
woman. After her death St. Peter's mother went to hell, 
and the saint begged our Lord to release her. In consid- 
eration of her one charitable act, an angel was sent to draw 
her from hell with an onion-top. The other lost spirits 
clutched hold of her skirts, in order to escape with her, but 
the selfish woman tried to shake them off, and in her efforts 
to do so broke the onion-top, and fell back into hell. This 
story has given rise to the saying, " Like St. Peter's mam- 
ma," which is found, with slight variations, all over Italy. 5 

A curious version of this story is given in Bernoni (Leg- 
gende fant. No. 8) : After the onion-top was broken and 
St. Peter's mother had fallen back into hell, the story con- 
tinues : " Out of regard, however, for St. Peter, the Lord 
permitted her once a year, on St. Peter's day, to leave hell 
and wander about the earth a week ; and, indeed, she does 
so every year, and during this week she plays all sorts of 
pranks and causes great trouble." 6 

St. Peter's sisters are the subject of a story with a moral, 
contained in Schneller, p. 6. 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. I93 

LIV. ST. PETER AND HIS SISTERS. 

St. Peter had two sisters — one large, the other small. The 
little one entered a convent and became a nun. St. Peter 
was delighted at this and tried to persuade his big sister to 
become a nun also. She would not listen to him, however, 
and said : " I would rather marry." After St. Peter had 
suffered martyrdom, he became, as is well known, Porter of 
Heaven. One day the Lord said to him : " Peter, open the 
gate of heaven to-day as wide as you can, and get out all 
the heavenly ornaments and decorations, for to-day a very 
deserving soul is going to arrive here." St. Peter did as he 
was told with great joy, and thought : " Certainly my little 
sister is dead, and is coming to heaven to-day." When 

everything was ready, there came the soul of his big 

sister, who had died and left many children, who bitterly 
lamented her loss. The Lord gave her an exalted place 
in heaven, much to the astonishment of St. Peter, who 
thought : " I never should have imagined this ; what shall I 
have to do when the soul of my little sister comes ? " 

Not long after, the Lord said to him : " Peter, open the 
gate of heaven to-day a little way, but a very little, — do 
you hear ? " St. Peter did so and wondered : " Who is com- 
ing to-day ? " Then came the soul of his little sister, and 
had so much trouble to squeeze through the gate that she 
hurt herself ; and she received a much lower place in 
heaven than the big sister. At first St. Peter was amazed ; 
afterwards he said : " It has happened differently from 
what I imagined ; but I see now that every profession has 
its merits, and every one, if he only wishes, can enter 
heaven." 

The cycle of stories referring to our Lord would not be 
complete without legends of Pilate, Judas, and the Wander- 
ing Jew. A powerful story is told of the first in Pitre, No. 
1 19, which is as follows : 
13 



194 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

LV. PILATE. 

It is said that the following once took place at Rome : 
A wagon loaded with stones was crossing a solitary spot in 
the country when one of the wheels sank into the ground 
and it was impossible to extricate it for some time. Finally 
they got it out, but there remained a large hole that opened 
into a dark room under ground. " Who wishes to descend 
into this hole ? " " I," said the carter. They soon procured 
a rope and lowered the carter into the dark room. We will 
suppose that this carter's name was Master Francis. Well, 
then, Master Francis, when he was let down, turned to the 
right and saw a door, which he opened, and found himself in 
darkness that you could cut. He turned to the left, the 
same ; he went forward, the same ; he turned once more 
and when he opened the door what did he see ? He saw a 
man seated before a table ; before him, pen, ink, and a writ- 
ten paper that he was reading ; and when he finished it he 
began over again, and never raised his eyes from the paper. 
Master Francis, who was of incomparable courage, went up 
to him and said : " Who are you ? " The man made no 
answer, but continued to read. " Who are you ? " said 
Master Francis again ; but not a word. The third time, the 
man said : " Turn around, open your shirt, and I will write 
who I am on your back. When you leave this place, go to 
the Pope and make him read who I am. Remember, how- 
ever, that the Pope alone must read it." Master Francis 
turned about, opened his shirt, the man wrote on his back, 
and then sat down again. Master Francis was courageous, 
it is true ; but he was not made of wood, and in that moment 
he was frightened to death. He fixed his shirt and then 
asked : " How long have you been here ? " but could get 
no answer from him. Seeing that it was time lost to ques- 
tion him, he gave the signal to those outside and was drawn 
up. When they saw him they did not recognize him ; he 
had grown entirely white and seemed like an old man of 
ninety. " What was it ? What happened ? " they all began to 
say. " Nothing, nothing," he replied ; " take me to the Pope, 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 1 95 

for I must confess." Two of those who were present con- 
ducted him to the Pope. When he was with him he related 
what had happened and taking off his shirt, said to him : 
" Read, your Holiness ! " His Holiness read : "I am 
Pilate." And as he uttered these words the poor carter 
became a statue. And it is said that that man was Pilate, 
who was condemned to stay in a cave, always reading the 
sentence that he had pronounced on Jesus Christ, without 
ever being able to take his eyes from the paper. This is 
the story of Pilate who is neither saved nor damned. 7 

Judas is believed to have hanged himself on a tamarind- 
tree, which, before that time, was a tall, beautiful tree. 
After Judas's death it became the diminutive, shapeless 
shrub called vruca, which is a synonym for all that is worth- 
less. The soul of the traitor is condemned to wander 
through the air, and every time it sees this shrub it pauses, 
and imagines it sees its miserable body dangling from it, 
the prey of birds and dogs. 8 This popular legend is told in 
the following words : 

LVI. THE STORY OF JUDAS. 

You must know that Judas was the one who betrayed 
Jesus Christ. Now when Judas betrayed him, his Master 
said: "Repent, Judas, for I pardon you." But Judas, not 
at all ! he departed with his bag of money, in despair and 
cursing heaven and earth. What did he do ? While he was 
going along thus desperate he came across a tamarind-tree. 
(You .must know that the tamarind was formerly a large 
tree, like the olive and walnut.) When he saw this tama- 
rind a wild thought entered his mind, remembering the trea- 
son he had committed. He made a noose in a rope and 
hung himself to the tamarind. And hence it is (because 
this traitor Judas was cursed by God) that the tamarind- 
tree dried up, and from that time on it ceased growing up 
into a tree and became a short, twisted, and tangled bush ; 
and its wood is good for nothing, neither to burn, nor to 



I96 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

make anything out of, and all on account of Judas, who 
hanged himself on it. 

Some say that the soul of Judas went to the lowest hell, 
to suffer the most painful torments ; but I have heard, from 
older persons who can know, that Judas's soul has a severer 
sentence. They say that it is in the air, always wandering 
about the world, without being able to rise higher or fall 
lower ; and every day, on all the tamarind shrubs that it 
meets, it sees its body hanging and torn by the dogs and 
birds of prey. They say that the pain he suffers cannot be 
told, and that it makes the flesh creep to think of it. And 
thus Jesus Christ condemned him for his great treason. 9 

An interesting legend (Pitre, No. 1 20) is told of the Jew 
who struck our Lord with the palm of his hand (St. John 
xviii. 22), and whom the popular imagination has identified 
with the Malchus mentioned by St John, xviii. 10. It is 
called 

LVII. DESPERATE MALCHUS. 

This Malchus was one of those Jews who beat our Lord ; 
a Jew more brutal than can be told. When Christ was 
taken to Pilate's house, this Malchus, with an iron glove, 
gave him a blow so heavy that it knocked out all his teeth. 
For the sacrilegious act, the Lord condemmed him to walk 
constantly, without ever resting, around a column in an un- 
derground room. This column is in a round room, and 
Malchus walks and walks without ever having peace or 
rest. They say that he has walked so much that he has 
worn the ground down many yards and made the column 
seem higher than it was, for this Malchus has led this life 
ever since our Lord's passion and death. It is said that 
this Malchus is desperate from his remorse, and while he 
walks he beats the column, strikes his head against the 
wall, and rages and laments ; but notwithstanding he does 
not die, for the sentence of God is that he must live until 
the day of judgment. 10 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 1 97 

The same legend is found in Bernoni as follows : 

LVIII. MALCHUS AT THE COLUMN. 

Malchus was the head of the Jews who killed our Lord. 
The Lord pardoned them all, and likewise the good thief, 
but he never pardoned Malchus, because it was he who 
gave the Madonna a blow. He is confined under a moun- 
tain, and condemned to walk around a column, without 
resting, as long as the world lasts. Every time that he 
walks about the column he gives it a blow in memory of the 
blow he gave the mother of our Lord. He has walked 
around the column so long that he has sunk into the ground. 
He is now up to his neck. When he is under, head and all, 
the world will come to an end, and God will then send him 
to the place prepared for him. He asks all those who go 
to see him (for there are such) whether children are yet 
born ; and when they say yes, he gives a deep sigh and re- 
sumes his walk, saying : " The time is not yet ! " for before 
the world comes to an end there will be no children born 
for seven years. 11 

This legend recalls the Wandering Jew, who is known in 
Sicilian tradition under the name of Buttaden (from buttari, 
to thrust away, and den, God) or more commonly as " The 
Jew who repulsed Jesus Christ." He is reported to have 
appeared in Sicily, and the daughter of a certain Antonino 
Caseio, a peasant of Salaparuta, gives the following account 
of her father's encounter with Buttadeu : 

LIX. THE STORY OF BUTTADEU. 

It was in the winter, and my good father was at Scalone, 
in the warehouse, warming himself at the fire, when he 
saw a man enter, dressed differently from the people of that 
region, with breeches striped in yellow, red, and black, and 
his cap the same way. My good father was frightened. 
" Oh ! " he said, " what is this person ? " " Do not be 



I98 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

afraid," the man said. " I am called Buttadeu" " Oh ! " 
said my father, " I have heard you mentioned. Be pleased 
to sit down a while and tell me something." " I cannot sit, 
for I am condemned by my God always to walk." And 
while he was speaking he was always walking up and down 
and had no rest. Then he said : " Listen. I am going 
away ; I leave you, in memory of me, this, that you must 
say a credo at the right hand of our Lord, and five other 
credos at his left, and a salve regina to the Virgin, for the 
grief I suffer on account of her son. I salute you." "Fare- 
well." " Farewell, my name is Buttadeu." 12 

We have only a few legends of the saints to mention. 
Undoubtedly a large number are current among the people 
(Busk, pp. 196, 202, 203, 213-228, gives a good many), but 
they do not differ materially from the literary versions cir- 
culated by the Church. Those which we shall cite are 
purely popular and belong to the great mediaeval legend- 
cycle. 

The first is the legend of " Gregory on the Stone," which 
was so popular in the mediaeval epics. There are several 
Italian versions, but we select as the most complete the one 
in Gonzenbach, No. 85, called : 

LX. THE STORY OF CRIVOLIU. 

Once upon a time there was a brother and sister who 
had neither father nor mother, and lived alone together. 
They loved each other so much that they committed a sin 
which they should not have committed. When the time 
came the sister gave birth to a boy, which the brother had 
secretly baptized. Then he burnt into his shoulders a 
cross, with these words : " Crivoliu, who is baptized ; son 
of a brother and sister." After the child was thus marked, 
he put it in a little box and threw it into the sea. 

Now it happened that a fisherman had just gone out to 
fish, and saw the box floating on the waves. "A ship must 
have sunk somewhere," he thought. " I will get the box, 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. I99 

perhaps there is something useful in it." So he rowed 
after it and got it. When he opened it and saw the little 
child in it, he had pity on the innocent child, took it home 
to his wife, and said : " My dear wife, our youngest child is 
already old enough to wean ; nurse in its place this poor 
innocent child." So his wife took little Crivoliu and nursed 
him, and loved him as though he were her own child. 
The boy grew and thrived and became every day larger 
and stronger. 

The fisherman's sons, however, were jealous because their 
parents loved the little foundling as well as them, and when 
they played with Crivoliu and quarrelled, they called him a 
"foundling." The boy's heart was saddened by this and he 
went to his foster-parents and said : " Dear parents, tell me, 
am I truly not your son ? " The fisherman's wife said : 
" How should you not be my son ? Have I not nursed you 
when you were a baby ? " The fisherman forbade his chil- 
dren very strictly to call little Crivoliu a "foundling." 

When the child was larger, the fisherman sent him to 
school with his sons. The children, when they were out of 
their father's hearing, began again to mock little Crivoliu 
and to call him " foundling," and the other children in the 
school did the same. Then Crivoliu went again to his fos- 
ter-parents and asked them if he was not their son. They 
persuaded him out of it, however, and put him off until he 
was fourteen. Then he could no longer stand being called 
"foundling," and went to the fisherman and his wife, and 
said : "Dear parents, I entreat you to tell me whether I am 
your child or not." Then the fisherman told him how he 
had found him and what was written on his shoulders. 
" Then I will go forth, and do penance for the sins of my 
parents," said Crivoliu. The fisherman's wife wept and 
lamented and would not let him go ; but Crivoliu would not 
be detained and wandered out into the wide world. 

After he had wandered about a long time, he came one 
day to a lonely place where there was only an inn. He 
asked the hostess : " Tell me, good woman, is there a cave 
near by, to which you alone know the entrance ? " She 



200 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

answered : " Yes, my handsome youth, I know such a cave 
and will take you to it willingly." Then Crivoliu took two 
grams worth of bread and a little pitcher of water with 
him and had the hostess show him the cave. It was some 
distance from the inn, and the entrance was so covered with 
thorns and bushes that he could scarcely penetrate into the 
cave. He sent the hostess back, crept into the cave, put 
the bread and water on the ground, knelt with folded arms, 
and so did penance for the sins of his parents. 

Many, many years passed, I know not how many, but so 
many, that his knees took root and he grew fast to the 
ground. 

Now it happened that the Pope died at Rome, and a new 
one was to be chosen. The cardinals all assembled, and a 
white dove was let loose : for he on whom it should alight 
was to be Pope. The white dove made several circles in 
the air, but alighted on no one. Then all the archbishops 
and bishops were summoned, and the dove was again let 
loose, but it did not settle on any one. Then all the priests 
and monks and hermits were collected, but the white dove 
would not choose any of them. The people were in great 
despair, and the cardinals had to wander forth and search 
the whole country to see whether another hermit was yet 
to be found, and a crowd of people accompanied them. 

At last they came to the inn in the lonely neighborhood, 
and asked the hostess whether she knew of any hermit or 
penitent who was yet unknown to the world. The hostess 
answered : " Many years ago a sorrowful youth came here 
and made me conduct him to a cave to do penance. He is 
surely dead long ago, for he took with him only two grani's 
worth of bread and a pitcher of water." The cardinals 
said: "We will look, however, and see whether he is still 
alive; take us to him." Then the hostess conducted them 
to the cave ; the entrance was scarcely to be recognized, so 
overgrown was it with brambles, and before they could 
enter the attendants had to cut away the brambles and 
bushes with axes. After they had forced their way in, they 
saw Crivoliu kneeling in the cave, with crossed arms, and 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 201 

his beard had grown so long that it touched the ground, 
and before him lay the bread, and by it the pitcher of water ; 
for in all those years he had not eaten or drunken. When 
they let the white dove loose now, it flew about in a circle 
for a moment and then alighted on the head of the penitent. 
Then the cardinals perceived that he was a saint, and 
begged him to come with them and be their Pope. As they 
were going to raise him up, they noticed that his knees had 
grown fast, and they had to cut the roots. Then they took 
him to Rome with them and he was made Pope. 

Now it happened that at the same time the sister said to 
her brother : " Dear brother, when we were young, we com- 
mitted a sin that we have not yet confessed, for the Pope 
alone can absolve us from it. Let us go, then, to Rome, be- 
fore death overtakes us, and confess there our sin." So 
they started on their journey to Rome, and when they ar- 
rived there they entered the church where the Pope sat in 
the confessional. 

When they had confessed in a loud voice, for one always 
confesses openly to the Pope, the Pope said : " Behold, I am 
your son, for on my shoulder is the mark you speak of. I 
have done penance many years for your sin, until it has 
been forgiven you. I absolve you, therefore, from your sin, 
and you shall stay with me and live in comfort." So they 
remained with him, and when their time came, the Lord 
called them all three to his kingdom. 13 

An important episode of the original legend is omitted 
in the above version, but preserved in those in Pitre (No. 
117) and Knust (No. 7). The youth after discovering his 
origin sets out on his wanderings and comes by chance to 
the country where his mother is living. They meet and, 
not knowing their relation, marry. In the Sicilian story 
this relationship is disclosed the day of the marriage by the 
son showing his mother the box in which he was exposed 
as a child. In the version of Knust (from Leghorn), the 
child leaves his foster-father and goes in search of his par- 
ents. He encounters them without knowing it of course, 



202 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

and they, supposing him to be a beggar boy, give him 
shelter and care for him until he has grown up. Then he 
marries his mother, who recognizes him by a lock of red 
hair. At the conclusion of the story, after the Pope has 
heard the confession of his parents he reveals himself, they 
all three embrace, and die thus united. The story adds, 
"their tomb is still preserved in St. Peter's at Rome." 

Another Pope, Silvester I., is the subject of a legend in 
Pitre (No. 118) which contains the well-known myth of 
Constantine's leprosy healed by his baptism at the hands of 
St. Silvester. 

Of greater interest is a legend of St. James the Elder, 
the patron-saint of Spain, a pilgrimage to whose shrine at 
Santiago in Galicia was so popular during the Middle Ages. 
The only popular version which' we have found is in a 
Sicilian story in Gonzenbach, No. 90. 

LXI. THE STORY OF ST. JAMES OF GALICIA. 

There was once a king and queen who had no children, 
and who longed to have a son or daughter. The queen 
prayed to St. James of Galicia, and said : " O St. James ! if 
you will grant me a son, he shall make a pilgrimage to your 
shrine when he is eighteen years old." After a time the 
queen had, through the favor of God and the saint, a beau- 
tiful boy who was as handsome as if God had made him. 
The child grew rapidly and became larger and fairer every 
day. When he was twelve years old, the king died, and 
the queen remained alone with this son, whom she loved as 
dearly as her eyes. Many years passed and the time drew 
near when the prince should be eighteen. When the queen 
thought that she must soon part from him to send him alone 
on the long pilgrimage, she became very sorrowful and 
wept and sighed the whole day. 

One day the prince said to her : " Mother, why do you 
sigh all day ? " " It is nothing, my son, only some cares of 
mine," she answered. "What are you concerned about?" 
asked he. " Are you afraid that your farms in the Plain (of 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 203 

Catania) are badly tilled ? Let me go and look after them 
and bring you news of them." The queen consented and 
the prince rode to the Plain, to the property that belonged 
to them. He found everything in good order, and returned 
to his mother and said : "Dear mother, rejoice, and cease 
your care, for everything is going well on your property ; 
the cattle are thriving ; the fields are tilled, and the grain 
will soon be ripe." " Very well, my son," answered the 
queen, but she was not cheerful, and the next day began to 
sigh and weep again. Then the prince said to her : " Dear 
mother, if you do not tell me why you are so sad, I will de- 
part, and wander out in the wide world." The queen an- 
swered : " Ah, my dear son, I am sad because you must 
now part from me. For before you were born, when I 
longed for you so much, I vowed to St. James of Galicia, 
that if he would grant you to me, you should make a pil- 
grimage to his shrine when you were eighteen years old. 
And now you will soon be eighteen, and I am sad because 
you must wander away alone, and be gone so many years ; 
for to reach the saint, one must journey a whole year." "Is 
it nothing but that, dear mother ? " asked her son. " Be 
not so sorrowful. Only the dead return not. If I live, I 
will soon come back to you." 

So he comforted his mother, and when he was eighteen 
he took leave of the queen, and said : " Now farewell, dear 
mother, and, God willing, we shall meet again." The queen 
wept bitterly, and embraced him with many tears ; then 
she gave him three apples, and said : " My son, take these 
three apples and give heed to my words. You shall not 
make the long journey alone. When, however, a youth 
joins you and wishes to accompany you, take him with you 
to the inn, and let him eat with you. After the meal cut 
an apple in two halves, one large and the other small, and 
offer them to the young man. If he takes the larger half, 
part from him, for he will be no true friend to you ; but if 
he takes the smaller half, regard him as your brother, and 
share everything that you have with him." After these 
words she embraced her son and blessed him, and the prince 
departed. 



204 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

He had already travelled a long time, and no one had 
met him. One day, however, he saw a youth coming along 
the road who joined him and asked : " Where are you go- 
ing, handsome youth ? " " I am making a pilgrimage to 
St. James of Galicia ; " and he told him of his mother's vow. 
" I must go there, too," said the other, " for the same thing 
happened to my mother as to yours ; if we have the same 
journey to make, we can make it together." They contin- 
ued their journey together, but the prince was not confiden- 
tial towards his companion, for he thought : " I must first 
make the trial with the apple." 

As they were passing an inn, the prince said : "lam 
hungry : shall we not have something to eat ? " The other 
was willing, so they went in and ate together. After they 
had eaten, the prince took out the apple, cut it in two un- 
equal halves, and offered them to the other, who took the 
larger half. " You are no true friend," thought the prince ; 
and to get rid of him, he pretended to be ill, and obliged to 
remain there. The other said : " I cannot wait for you, for 
I have far to go yet ; so farewell." " Farewell," said the 
prince, and was glad to be rid of him. 

When he continued his journey again, he thought : " Ah, 
if God would only send me a true friend, so that I should 
not have to travel alone ! " 

Not long after, another youth joined him and asked : 
" Handsome young man, where are you going ? " The 
prince answered him as he had done before, and everything 
happened the same as with the first young man. After the 
prince had got rid of him he resumed his journey and 
thought : " O God, let me find a true friend who shall be to 
me a brother on the long journey ! " While he was uttering 
this prayer he saw a youth coming along the way, who was 
a handsome lad, and appeared so friendly that he liked him 
at once, and thought : " Ah, may this be the true friend ! " 
The youth joined him, and everything passed as before, 
except that this time the youth took the smaller half of the 
apple, and the prince rejoiced that he had found a true 
friend. " Fair youth," said he to him, " we must consider 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 205 

ourselves as brothers now ; what is mine shall be yours also, 
and what is yours, shall be mine. We will travel together, 
until we come to the shrine of the saint ; and if one of us 
dies on the way, the other must carry his body there. We 
will both promise this." They did so, and regarded each 
other as brothers, and continued their journey together. 

To reach the shrine of the saint requires a whole year ; 
imagine, then, how long the two must travel. One day when 
they came, weary and exhausted, to a large, beautiful city, 
they said : " We will stay here and rest a few days, and 
afterwards continue our journey." So they took a small 
house, and dwelt in it. Now opposite it was the royal 
palace, and one morning as the king was standing on the 
balcony, he saw the two handsome youths, and thought : 
"Oh! how handsome these two youths are ! one is, how- 
ever, much handsomer than the other. I will give him my 
daughter in marriage." Now the prince was the handsomer 
of the two. In order to attain his aim, the king invited 
them both to dinner, and when they came to the palace 
received them in a very friendly manner and had his daugh- 
ter called, who was more beautiful than the sun and moon. 
When they retired for the night, the king had a poisonous 
drink given to the prince's companion, who fell down dead ; 
for the king thought : " If his friend dies, the other will 
remain here willingly, and think no more of his pilgrimage, 
but marry my daughter." 

The next morning, when the prince awoke, he asked : 
" Where is my friend ? " " He died suddenly last night, and 
is to be buried at once," answered the servants. The prince 
said : " If my friend is dead, I cannot remain here longer, 
but must depart this very hour." "Ah ! do remain here," 
begged the king. " I will give you my daughter for your 
wife." "No," said the prince, "I cannot stay here. If you 
will grant me a wish, give me a horse, and let me depart in 
peace ; and when I have completed my pilgrimage, I will 
return and marry your daughter." The king then gave 
him a horse, which the prince mounted, and took his dead 
friend before him on the saddle, and thus completed his 



206 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

journey. The young man, however, was not dead, but lay 
only in a deep sleep. 

When the prince- reached the shrine of St. James of 
Galicia, he dismounted, took his friend in his arms like a 
child, and entered the church and laid the body on the steps 
of the altar before the saint, and prayed : " O St. James of 
Galicia ! behold, I have kept my vow. I have come to you 
and have brought you my friend, also. I confide him now 
to you ; if you will restore him to life, we will laud your 
mercy ; but if he is not to come to life again, he has at least 
kept his vow." And behold, while he was still praying, his 
dead friend rose, and became again alive and well. Both 
thanked the saint, and gave him costly presents, and then 
started on their journey home. 

When they reached the city where the king lived, they 
occupied again the little house opposite the royal palace. 
The king was greatly rejoiced to see the handsome prince 
there again, and much handsomer than before ; he arranged 
great festivities, and had a splendid marriage celebrated, 
and thus the prince married the fair princess. After the 
wedding they remained several months with her father, and 
then the prince said : "My mother is expecting me at home 
with great anxiety ; therefore I cannot stay longer here, 
but will return to my mother with my wife and my friend." 
The king consented and they prepared for the journey. 

Now the king had a deadly hatred against the poor, in- 
nocent youth, to whom he had before given the fatal drink, 
and who had nevertheless returned alive, and in order to 
cause him sorrow, he sent him in great haste on the morn- 
ing of the departure into the country with an errand. 
"Hasten," he said. " Your friend will not start until you 
return." The youth hastened away, without taking leave, 
and performed the king's errand. The king, meanwhile, 
said to the prince : " Hasten your departure, otherwise you 
cannot reach your quarters for the night before evening." 
"I cannot depart without my friend," answered the prince. 
The king, however, said : " Set out on your journey ; he will 
be here within an hour, and will soon overtake you on his 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 207 

swift horse." The prince allowed himself to be persuaded, 
took leave of his father-in-law, and departed with his wife. 
The poor friend could not fulfil the king's commission be- 
fore several hours, and when he finally returned, the king 
said to him: "Your friend is already far from here; see 
how you can overtake him." 

So the poor youth had to leave the palace, and did not 
even receive a horse, and began to run, and ran day and 
night until he overtook the prince. From his great exer- 
tions, however, he contracted leprosy, so that he looked ill, 
wretched, and dreadful. The prince, nevertheless, received 
him in a friendly manner and cared for him like a brother. 

They finally reached home, where the queen had awaited 
her son with great anxiety, and now embraced him with 
perfect joy. The prince had a bed prepared at once for 
his sick friend and summoned all the physicians of the 
town and state, but no one could help him. When the 
poor youth grew no better the prince addressed himself to 
St. James of Galicia and said : " O St. James of Galicia ! 
you raised my friend from the dead ; help him now this time 
also, and let him recover from his leprosy." While he was 
praying, a servant entered and said : "A strange physician 
is without, who will make the poor youth well again." This 
physician was St. James of Galicia himself, who had heard 
the prayer of the prince and had come to help his friend. 
You must know now that the prince's wife had had a little 
girl who was a pretty, lovely child. 

When the saint approached the bed of the sick youth, 
he first examined him, and then said to the prince : " Do 
you really wish to see your friend well again at any price?" 
"At any price," answered the prince ; "only tell me what 
can help him." "This evening, take your child," said the 
saint, " open all her veins, and anoint with her blood your 
friend's wounds, and he will be healed at once." 

The prince was horrified when he heard that he himself 
must kill his dear little daughter, but he answered : "I have 
promised my friend to treat him like my brother ; and if 
there is no other remedy, I will sacrifice my child." 



208 ITALIAN. POPULAR TALES. 

At evening he took the child and opened her veins and 
anointed with the blood the sores of the sick youth, who 
was at once cleansed from his foul leprosy. The child be- 
came pale and weak, and looked as if it were dead. Then 
they laid it in its cradle and the poor parents were deeply 
grieved, for they believed they had lost their child. 

The next morning the physician came and asked after 
the patient. " He is well and sound," answered the prince. 
" And where have you put your child ? " asked the saint. 
" There it lies dead in its cradle," said the poor father, 
sadly. " Just look at her once and see how she is," said 
the saint ; and when they hastened to the cradle, they saw 
the child in it alive and well again. Then the saint said : 
" I am St. James of Galicia, and have come to help you, be- 
cause I have seen what true friendship you have displayed. 
Continue to love one another, and when you are in trouble 
turn to me and I will come to your aid." With these words 
he blessed them and disappeared from their sight. They 
lived piously and did much good to the poor, and were 
happy and contented. 14 

There are several interesting legends found only in Gon- 
zenbach's collection. They can be mentioned but briefly 
here. The first (No. 87) is entitled: "The Story of St. 
Oniria or Neria." Two huntsmen lost their way in a wood 
and found at night a hut in which was a table set for sup- 
per, and a fire which emitted a heavenly odor. They ex- 
amined it and found in the coals a heart, which they took 
with them when they departed, the next morning. After 
they had travelled a while, they stopped at an inn, and the 
pious and virtuous daughter of the innkeeper waited on 
them, and noticed the odor which came from the jacket 
that one of the huntsmen had laid aside on account of the 
heat. In the pocket she found the heart, which she kept 
for a time on a table in her room. One day she was seized 
with a great longing to eat it. She did so, and it soon was 
evident that she was about to become a mother. Her 
father treated her cruelly, for the shame she was going to 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 2CX) 

bring on the family, but her godmother interfered, and one 
night had a strange dream. There appeared to her a saint, 
who said : " I am St. Oniria, and was consumed by fire. 
Only my heart was left, so that I might be born again. 
This heart the host's daughter has eaten, and she will, in 
due time, give birth to me." The child was born as pre- 
dicted, and grew handsomer every day. The grandfather, 
however, could not endure him, and ill-treated him as well 
as his mother. 

One day, when the child was five years old, the grand- 
father took him to the city. On the way they passed a 
place where there was much filth, and the child said to his 
grandfather : " I wish you might wallow in it." Afterwards 
they saw a poor man being carried to the grave on a lad- 
der, without any coffin. The child here wished that his 
grandfather, when he died, might be like this one. Next 
they met the long funeral procession of a rich man, and the 
child wished that his grandfather might not be like this rich 
man. The grandfather, of course, in each case was very 
angry, and was only restrained from beating the child by 
the mother's godfather, who had accompanied them. 

After they had finished their business in the city they 
set out for home ; and when they came to the spot where 
they had met the rich man's funeral procession, the child 
made his grandfather put his ear to the ground, when he 
heard a great noise, as if of iron pestles and lamentations. 
The child explained that what he heard were the devils tor- 
menting the rich man's soul. When they came where they 
had seen the poor man on the ladder, the grandfather lis- 
tened again and heard the rejoicings of the angels on re- 
ceiving the poor man's soul. 

When they came to the place where the filth was, the 
child made his grandfather dig and find a pot of money 
which he told him to use better than he had done his own. 
The child then said he was St. Oniria, exculpated his 
mother, and said his grandfather would see him again when 
the dead spoke with the living. Then he was taken up into 
heaven. 

14 



210 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Years after, two men spent the night in the inn, and one 
murdered the other and hid the body under the straw, 
where it was afterwards found by other travellers, and the 
innkeeper accused of the murder. He was condemned and 
was on the scaffold when a beautiful youth came riding in 
hot haste, crying : " Pardon ! " The youth led the people 
into the church, before the coffin of the murdered man, and 
cried : " Rise, dead one, and speak with the living, and tell 
us who murdered you." The dead man replied : " The inn- 
keeper is innocent ; my treacherous companion killed me." 
Then the youth accompanied the innkeeper home, revealed 
himself as St. Oniria, blessed them, and disappeared. 15 

Another legend (No. 92), "The Story of the Hermit," 
has as its subject the mystery of God's Providence, and is 
familiar to English readers in the form of Parnell's Hermit. 
The substance of the Sicilian version is as follows : A her- 
mit sees a man wrongfully accused of theft and shockingly 
maltreated. He thereupon concludes that God is unjust to 
suffer such things, and determines to return to the world. 
On his way back a handsome youth meets him and they 
journey together. A muleteer allows them to ride his 
beasts, and in return the youth abstracts the muleteer's 
money from his wallet and drops it in the road. A woman 
who keeps an inn receives them hospitably, and on leaving 
the next morning, the youth strangles her child in the era- 
die. All at once the youth becomes a shining angel, and 
says to the hermit : " Listen to me, O man who has been 
bold enough to murmur against God's decrees ; " and then 
explains that the person who had been wrongfully accused 
of theft had years before murdered his father on that very 
spot ; the muleteer's money was stolen money, and the 
child of the hostess, had it lived, would have become a rob- 
ber and murderer. Then the angel says : " Now you see 
that God's justice is more far-sighted than man's. Return, 
then, to your hermitage, and repent if so be that your mur- 
muring be forgiven you." The angel disappears and the 
hermit returns to his mountain, does severer penance, and 
dies a saint. 16 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 2 1 1 

The legend in Gonzenbach (No. 91) entitled "Joseph the 
Just " is nothing but the story of Joseph and his Brethren, 
taken from the Bible. In the Sicilian version Joseph has 
only three brothers ; otherwise the story follows the account 
in Genesis very closely. Another legend in the same col- 
lection (No. 89), "The Story of Tobia and Tobiola," is the 
story of Tobit and Tobias, taken from the apocryphal book 
of Tobit. The Sicilian story differs in the names only. 

There are several other Sicilian legends the heroes of 
which are pious, simple youths, the religious counterparts 
of Giufa. One (Pitre, No. 112), called "The Poor Boy," 
tells the story of a simple youth who asked the priest the 
way to paradise, and was told he must follow the strait and 
narrow way. He took the first one he came to, and reached 
a convent church during a festival, and imagined he had 
reached paradise. He was found in the church when all 
had departed ; but he persisted in remaining, and the supe- 
rior sent him a bowl of soup, which he put on the altar ; and 
when he was alone he began to converse confidentially with 
the Lord on the crucifix, and said : " Lord, who put you on 
the cross ? " " Your sins ! " and so the Lord responded to all 
his questions. The youth, in tears, promised he would sin 
no more, and invited the Lord to descend and partake of 
his repast with him. The Lord did so, and commanded 
him to tell the monks in the convent that they would be 
damned unless they sold all their property and bestowed it 
on the poor. If they would do so and come and confess to 
the Lord himself, he would hear their confession and give 
them the communion, and when it was finished they would 
all die, one after the other, and enter the glory of paradise. 
The poor youth went to the superior and gave him the 
Lord's message. The superior sold the property of the con- 
vent, and everything turned out as the Lord had said. The 
monks all confessed and died, and all who were present or 
heard of the event were converted and died in the grace of 
God." 

This legend leads quite naturally to another, in which in- 
tercourse with the other world is represented as still occa- 



212 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

sionally permitted to mortals. It is found only in Sicily, 
having, curiously enough, parallels in the rest of Europe, 
but none in Italy. It is called : 

LXII. THE BAKER'S APPRENTICE. 

There was once a baker who every morning loaded an 
ounceworth of bread on a horse that came to his shop. One 
day he said : " I give this ounceworth of bread to this 
horse and he renders me no account of it." Then he said 
to his apprentice : " Vincenzo, the horse will come to-mor- 
row and I will give him the bread, but you must follow him 
and see where he goes." The next day the horse came and 
the baker loaded him, and gave the apprentice a piece of 
bread for himself. Vincenzo followed the horse, and after 
a while came to a river of milk, and began to eat bread and 
milk, and could not overtake the horse again. He then re- 
turned to his master, who, seeing him return to no purpose, 
said : " To-morrow the horse will come again ; if you can- 
not tell me where he goes I will no longer have you for my 
apprentice." The next day the apprentice followed the 
horse again, and came to a river of wine, and began to eat 
bread and wine, and lost sight of the horse. He returned 
to his master in despair at having lost the horse. His 
master said : " Listen. The first time, one pardons ; the 
second time, one condones ; the third time, one beats. If 
to-morrow you do not follow the horse I will give you a 
good thrashing and send you home." What did poor Vin- 
cenzo do? He followed the horse the next day with his 
eyes open. After a while he came to a river of oil. " What 
shall I do ? the horse will get away from me now ! " So he 
tied the horse's reins to his girdle and began to eat bread 
and oil. The horse pulled, but Vincenzo said : " When I 
finish the bread I will come." When he had finished the 
bread he followed the horse, and after a time he came to a 
cattle-farm where the grass was long and thick and the cat- 
tle so thin that they could scarcely stand on their feet. 
Vincenzo was astonished at seeing the grass so long and 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 2 1 3 

the cattle so lean. Then he came to another farm, and 
saw that the grass was dry and short, and the cattle fatter 
than you can believe. He said to himself: "Just see! 
There, where the grass was long, the cattle were lean ; 
here, where you can hardly see the grass, the cattle are so 
fat ! " The horse kept on, and Vincenzo after him. After 
a while he met a sow with her tail full of large knots, and 
wondered why she had such a tail. Farther on he came to 
a watering-trough, where there was a toad trying to reach a 
crumb of bread, and could not. Vincenzo continued his 
way, and arrived at a large gate. The horse knocked at 
the gate with his head, and the door opened and a beautiful 
lady appeared, who said she was the Madonna. When she 
saw the youth she asked : " And what are you here for ? " 
Vincenzo replied: "This horse comes constantly to my 
master's to get an ounceworth of bread, and my master 
never has been able to find out where he carries it." " Very 
well ; enter," said the lady ; " I will show you where he car- 
ries it." Then the lady began to call all the souls in pur- 
gatory : " My children, come hither ! " The souls then 
descended ; and to some she gave the worth of a grano of 
bread, to some the worth of a baiocco, and to others the 
worth of five grant, and the bread was gone in a moment. 
When the bread had disappeared, the lady said to Vin- 
cenzo : " Did you see nothing on your way ? " " Yes, lady. 
The first day that my master sent me to see where the 
horse went, I saw a river of milk." The lady said : " That 
is the milk I gave my son." "The second day I saw a river 
of wine." " That," said the lady, " is the wine with which 
my son was consecrated." " The third day I saw a river of 
oil." " That is the oil that they ask of me and of my son. 
What else did you see the third day ?" " I saw," answered 
Vincenzo, " a farm with cattle. There was plenty of grass, 
but the cattle were lean. Afterwards I saw another farm, 
where you could scarcely see the grass, and the cattle were 
fine and fat." " These, my son, are the rich, who are in 
the midst of wealth ; and no matter how much they eat, it 
does no good ; and the fat ones, that have no grass to eat, 



214 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

are the poor, for my son supports and fattens them. What 
else did you see ? " " I saw a sow with her tail full of 
knots." " That, my son, is those who repeat their rosaries 
and do not offer their prayers to me or to my son ; and my 
son makes knots in them." " I also saw a watering-trough, 
with a toad that was reaching after a crumb of bread, and 
could not get it." She said : " A poor person asked a 
woman for a bit of bread, and she gave his hand such a blow 
that she made him drop it. And what else did you see, my 
son ? " " Nothing, lady." " Then come with me, and I 
will show you something else." She took him by the hand 
and led him into hell. When the poor youth heard the 
clanking of chains and saw the darkness, he came near dy- 
ing, and wanted to get out. " You see," said the lady, 
" those who are lamenting and in chains and darkness are 
those who are in mortal sin. Now come, and I will take 
you to purgatory." There they heard nothing, and the 
darkness was so great that they could see nothing. Vin- 
cenzo wished to depart, for he felt oppressed by anguish. 
" Now," said the lady, " I will take you to the church of the 
Holy Fathers. Do you see it, my son ? This is the church 
of the Holy Fathers, which first was full and now is empty. 
Come ; now I will take you to limbo. Do you see these 
little ones ? These are those who died unbaptized." The 
lady wished to show him paradise ; but he was too confused, 
so the lady made him look through a window. "Do you 
see this great palace ? There are three seats there ; one 
for you, one for your master, and one for your mistress." 
After this she took him to the gate. The horse was no 
longer there. " Now," said Vincenzo, "how shall I find my 
way back ? I will follow the tracks of the horse, and so 
will get home." The lady answered : " Close your eyes ! " 
Vincenzo closed his eyes, and found himself behind his 
master's door. When he entered he told all that had oc- 
curred to his master and mistress. When he had finished 
his story all three died and went to paradise. 18 

The most famous story of the class we are now consider- 
ing is, however, the one best known by its French title, 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 21 5 

u Bonhomme Misere." The French version was popular as 
a chap-book as early as 1719, running through fifteen edi- 
tions from that date. The editor of the reprint referred to 
in the note, as well as Grimm (II. 451), believed the story 
to be of Italian origin and that the original would some day 
be discovered. 19 This has proved to be the case, and we 
have now before us a number of versions. These may be 
divided into two classes : one independent, the other con- 
stituting a part only of some other story. The latter class 
is generally connected with the cycle of our Lord's journeys 
upon earth, and is represented by "The Master Thief" and 
"Brother Lustig" in Germany, and " Beppo Pipetta" from 
Venice. The Sicilian versions which we shall mention first, 
although independent stories, are connected with the cycle 
of our Lord's journeys upon earth. We give first two ver- 
sions from Pitre (Nos. 124, 125). 

LXIII. OCCASION. 

Once upon a time there was a father and a mother who 
had a little boy. They died and the child was left in the 
street. One of the neighbors had pity upon him and took 
him in. The boy throve well and when he had grown up, 
the one who had sheltered him said : " Come now, Occasion 
(for this was the boy's name), you are a man ; why do you 
not think about supporting yourself and relieving us from 
that care ? " So the lad made up a bundle and departed. 
He journeyed and journeyed until his clothes were worn 
out and he was almost dead from hunger. One day he saw 
an inn and entered it, and said to the innkeeper : " Do you 
want me for a servant ? I wish only a piece of bread for 
my wages." The host said to his wife : " " What do you 
say, Rosella ? We have no children ; shall we take this 
lad ? " " Yes ; " and so they took him. 

The boy was very attentive and did willingly whatever 
was commanded him, and at last his master and mistress, 
who had grown to love him like a son, went before the judge 
and adopted him. 



2l6 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Time passed and the innkeeper and his wife died and left 
all their property to the young man, who, when he saw 
himself in possession of it, made known : " That whoever 
should come to Occasion's inn could have food for noth- 
ing." You can imagine the people that went there ! 

Now the Master and his apostles happened once to pass 
that way, and when St. Thomas read this announcement he 
said : " Unless I see and touch with my hands I shall not 
believe it. Let us go to this inn." They went there and 
ate and drank and Occasion treated them like gentlemen. 
Before leaving St. Thomas said : " Occasion, why don't you 
ask a favor of the Master ? " Then Occasion said : " Mas- 
ter, I have before my door this fig-tree, and the children do 
not let me eat one of the figs. Whoever goes by climbs up 
and pulls off some. Now I would like this favor, that when 
any one climbs this tree, he must stay there until I permit 
him to come down." " Your request is granted," said the 
Lord, and blessed the tree. 

It was a fine thing ! The first who climbed up for figs 
stuck fast to the tree without being able to move ; another 
came, the same thing ; and so on ; all stuck fast, one by the 
hand, another by the foot, another by the head. When 
Occasion saw them he gave them a sound scolding and let 
them go. The children were frightened and touched the 
figs no more. 

Years passed and Occasion's money was coming to an 
end ; so he called a carpenter and told him to cut up the fig- 
tree and make him a bottle out of it. This bottle had the 
property that Occasion could shut up in it whoever he 
wished. One day Death went to fetch him, for Occasion 
was now very old. Occasion said : " At your service ; we 
will go. But see here, Death, first do me a favor. I have 
this bottle of wine, and there is a fly in it, and I don't like 
to drink from it ; just go in there and take it out for me, 
and then we will go." Death very foolishly entered the 
bottle, when Occasion corked it and put it in his wallet, 
saying : " Stay a bit with me." 

While Death was shut up no one died ; and everywhere 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 2\J 

you might see old men with such long white beards that it 
was a sight. The apostles, seeing this, went to the Master 
about it several times, and at last he visited Occasion. 
"What is this? Here you have kept Death shut up so 
many years, and the people are falling down from old age 
without dying ! " " Master," said Occasion, " do you want 
me to let Death out ? If you will give me a place in para- 
dise, I will let him out." The Lord thought : "What shall 
I do ? If I don't grant him this favor, he will not leave me 
in peace." So he said: "Your request is granted!" At 
these words Death was set at liberty ; Occasion was per- 
mitted to live a few years longer, and then Death took him. 
Hence it is "That there is no death without Occasion." 



LXIV. BROTHER GIOVANNONE. 

Once upon a time there was a convent at Casteltermini 
which contained many monks, one of whom was named 
Brother Giovannone. At the time when the Lord and all 
his apostles were on their travels they visited this convent, 
and all the monks asked the Lord to pardon their souls ; 
Brother Giovannone asked nothing. St. Peter said to him : 
" Why do you not ask pardon for your soul, like the others ? " 
" I don't wish anything." St. Peter said : " Nothing ? When 
you come to paradise we will talk about it." When the 
Master had taken his departure and had gone some dis- 
tance, Brother Giovannone began to cry out : " Master, 
Master, wait ! I want a favor, and it is that any one I com- 
mand must get into my pouch." The Master said : " This 
request is granted." 

Brother Giovannone was old and one day Death came 
and said to him : " Giovannone, you have three hours to 
live ! " Brother Giovannone replied : " When you come 
for me you must let me know half an hour before." After 
a while Death came and said : " You are a dead man ! " 
Brother Giovannone replied: "In the name of Brother 
Giovannone, into my pouch with you, Death ! " Then he 
carried his pouch to a baker and asked him to hang it up 



2l8 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

in the chimney until he came for it. For forty years no 
one died. At the end of that time Brother Giovannone 
went and set Death free, so that he might himself die, for 
he was so old he could do no more. The first one that 
Death killed when he was free was Brother Giovannone, 
and then he destroyed all those who had not died in the 
forty years. 

After he was dead Brother Giovannone went and knocked 
at the gate of paradise and St. Peter said to him : " There 
is no room for you here." " Where must I go, then ? " asked 
Brother Giovannone. " To purgatory," answered St. Peter. 
So he knocked at purgatory and they told him : "There 
is no place for you here." "Where must I go, then?" 
" To hell." He knocked at hell and Lucifer asked : " Who 
is there ? " " Brother Giovannone." Then Lucifer said to 
his devils : " You take the mace ; you, the hammer ; you, 
the tongs ! " Brother Giovannone asked : " What are you 
going to do with these instruments ? " " We are going to 
beat you." " In the name of Brother Giovannone, into 
my pouch with you, all you devils ! " Then he hung the 
pouch about his neck and carried all the devils to a smith 
who had eight apprentices, and the master, nine. " Master- 
smith, how much do you want to hammer this pouch eight 
days and nights ? " They agreed upon forty ounces, and 
hammered day and night and the pouch was not reduced to 
powder, and Brother Giovannone was always present. The 
last day the smiths said : " What the devil are these ; for 
they cannot be pounded fine ! " Brother Giovannone an- 
swered : "They are indeed devils! Pound hard!" After 
they were through hammering, he took the pouch and emp- 
tied it out in the plain ; the devils were so bruised and 
mangled that they could hardly drag themselves back to 
hell. Then Brother Giovannone went and knocked again 
at paradise. "Who is there?" "Brother Giovannone." 
" There is no room for you." " Peter, if you don't let me in 
I will call you baldhead." " Now that you have called me 
baldhead," said St. Peter, " you shall not enter." Brother 
Giovannone said : " Ah, what is that you say ? I will be 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 219 

even with you ! " So he stood near the gate of paradise 
and said to all the souls who were going to enter : " In 
the name of Brother Giovannone, into my pouch, all you 
souls ! " and no more souls entered paradise. One day St, 
Peter said to the Master : " Why do no more souls enter ? " 
The Lord answered : " Because Brother Giovannone is be- 
hind the gate putting them all in his pouch." "What shall 
we do ? " said St. Peter. The Lord answered : " See if you 
can get hold of the pouch and bring them all in together." 
Brother Giovannone heard all this outside. What did he 
do ? He said : " Into the pouch with myself ! " and in a 
moment was in his own pouch. When St. Peter looked 
Brother Giovannone was not to be seen, so he seized the 
pouch and dragged it into paradise and shut the gate at 
once, and opened the pouch. The first one who came out 
was Brother Giovannone himself, who began at once to 
quarrel with St. Peter because St. Peter wished to put him 
out, and Brother Giovannone did not want to go. Then the 
Lord said: "When one once enters the house of Jesus, he 
does not leave it again." 20 

These stories have close parallels in two Roman legends 
collected by Miss Busk. In the first, the innkeeper asks 
first for the faculty of always winning at cards ; and second, 
that any one who climbs his fig-tree must stay there. When 
Death comes the host asks her (Death is feminine in Italian) 
to climb the tree and pick him a few figs. When once up 
the tree, the host refuses to let her down until she promises 
him four hundred years of life. Death has to consent and 
the host in turn promises to go quietly with her when she 
comes again. At the end of the four hundred years Death 
takes the host to paradise. They pass by hell on the way 
and the host proposes to the devil to play for the newly 
received souls. The host wins fifteen thousand, which he 
carries with him to paradise. St. Peter objects to let- 
ting the "rabble" in, and Jesus Christ himself says: "The 
host may come in himself, but he has no business with 
the others." Then the host says that he has made no 



220 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

difficulty about numbers when Christ has come to his inn 
with as many as he pleased. " That is true ! that is right ! " 
answered Jesus Christ. " Let them all in ! let them all 
in!" 21 

In the other story, a priest, Pret' Olivo, received from the 
Lord, in reward for his hospitality, the favor of living a hun- 
dred years, and that when Death came to fetch him he 
should be able to give her what orders he pleased, and that 
she must obey him. Death called at the end of the hun- 
dred years, and Pret' Olivo made her sit by the fire while he 
said a mass. The fire grew hotter and hotter, but Death 
could not stir until Pret' Olivo permitted her to, on condi- 
tion that she should leave him alone a hundred years. The 
second time Death called, Pret' Olivo asked her to gather 
him some figs and commanded her to stay in the tree. So 
Death a second time was obliged to promise him a respite 
of a hundred years. The next time Death called, Pret' 
Olivo put on his vestments and a cope, and took a pack of 
cards in his hand and went with Death. She wanted to 
take him directly to paradise, but he insisted on going 
around by the way of hell and playing a game of cards with 
the Devil. The stakes were souls, and as fast as Pret' 
Olivo won, he hung a soul on his cope until it was covered 
with them ; then he hung them on his beretta, and at last 
was obliged to stop, for there was no more room to hang 
any souls. Death objected to taking all these souls to para- 
dise, but could not take Pret' Olivo without them. When 
they arrived at paradise St. Peter made some objection to 
admitting them, but the Master gave his permission and 
they all got in. 22 

The Tuscan version, which contains some of the traits of 
the last story, is as follows : 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 221 

LXV. CxODFATHER MISERY. 
Godfather Misery was old, — God knows how old ! One 
day Jesus and St. Peter, while wandering through the 
world to name the countries, came to Godfather Misery's, 
who offered his visitors some polenta, and gave them his 
own bed. Jesus, pleased with this reception, gave him 
some money, and granted him these three favors : that 
whoever sits on his bench near the fire cannot get up ; that 
whoever climbs his fig-tree cannot descend ; and finally, out 
of regard to St. Peter, the salvation of his soul. One day 
Death came to Godfather Misery, and wanted to carry him 
off. Godfather Misery said : " It is too cold to travel." Death 
pressed him ; then he asked her to sit by the fire and warm 
herself a moment, and he would soon be ready. Meanwhile 
he piled wood on the fire. Death felt herself burning, and 
tried to move, but could not ; so she had to grant Godfather 
Misery another hundred years of life. Death was released ; 
the hundred years passed, and Death returned. Godfather 
Misery was at the door, pretending to wait for her, and 
looking at his fig-tree in sorrow. He begged Death to pick 
him a few figs for their journey. So Death climbed up, 
but could not descend until she granted Godfather Misery 
another hundred years. Even these passed, and Death 
reappeared. This time there was no help, he must go. 
Death gave him time only to recite an Ave Maria, and a 
Paternoster. Godfather Misery, however, could not find 
this time, and said to Death, who was hurrying him : " You 
have given me time, and I am taking it." Then Death had 
recourse to a stratagem, and disguised herself like a Jesuit, 
and went where Godfather Misery lived, and preached. 
Godfather Misery at first did not attend these sermons, but 
his wife finally persuaded him to go to the church and hear 
a sermon. Just as he entered, the preacher cried out that 
whoever said an Ave Maria should save his soul. Godfather 
Misery, who recognized Death,. answered from a distance : 
" Go away ! you will not get me." Then Death went away 
in despair, and never got hold of him again. Godfather 
Misery still lives, since misery never ends. 23 






222 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

In another Tuscan story, similar gifts are bestowed upon 
a smith, who had always been a good Christian, to enable 
him to avoid a contract he had made with the Devil, to sell 
him his soul for two years of life. The first time the Devil 
comes he sits on the bench near the fire, and cannot rise 
again until he extends his contract two years. The next 
time he comes he does not enter the house, but looks in at 
a window that has the power to detain any one who looks 
through it. Again the contract is extended. The third 
time the Devil is caught in the fig-tree, and then a new con- 
tract is drawn up, that the Devil and the smith are never to 
see each other again. 24 

The second class of versions of the story of " Bonhomme 
Misere" is where the legend is merely an episode of some 
other story. This class comprises two stories from the 
territory of Venice. The first is entitled " Beppo Pipetta," 
from the hero who saved the king's life, which is threatened 
by some robbers. The king was in disguise, and Beppo 
did not know who he was until he was summoned to the 
palace to be rewarded. The king told Beppo that he need 
not be a soldier any longer, but might remain with him or 
wherever he pleased, and offered to pay for all he needed ; 
for he had saved his life. We give the rest of the story in 
the words of the original. 



LXVI. BEPPO PIPETTA. 

When his first joy at this good fortune was over, Beppo 
decided to visit his relations. There he met a man in the 
street who entered into conversation with him, and they 
chatted for a long time, until they finally went into an inn 
to refresh themselves with something to eat and drink. 
"How happens it," asked his new friend, who was vastly 
entertained by Beppo's conversation, " that you, a soldier, 
carry no knapsack ? " " Hm ! " said Beppo, " I don't care to 
weigh myself down on a march with unnecessary things. I 
have no effects, and if I need anything, I have a good mas- 
ter who pays all my bills." " Now," said the stranger, " I 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 223 

will give you a knapsack, and a very valuable one too ; for if 
you say to any one, 'Jump in,' he will jump into the sack." 
With these words the stranger took his leave. 

" Wait," thought Beppo ; " I will put this to the proof." 
And, indeed, a favorable opportunity offered itself, for just 
then the landlord appeared to demand the payment of his 
bill. " What do you want ? " asked Beppo. " My money ; 
you might know that of yourself." " Let me alone ! I 
have no money." "What ? you ragged soldier " — "Jump 
in ! " said Beppo ; and the landlord went over his ears into 
the sack. Only after long entreaty, and on condition that 
he would never again present his bill, would Beppo let him 
out again. " Just wait, fellow ! I '11 teach you how to in- 
sult soldiers," said he to the landlord, as he went out. 

Tired and hungry after a long walk, Beppo again turned 
into an inn. There he saw a man who was continually 
emptying a purse, but never finished, for it always became 
full again. He quickly snatched the purse out of the man's 
hand, and ran out of the inn, but no less quickly did the 
owner run after him ; and since he had not walked as far 
as Beppo, who had been wandering about all day, he soon 
caught up with him. Then Beppo cried : " Jump in ! " and 
the owner was in the sack. " Listen," said Beppo, after he 
had somewhat recovered his breath, " listen and be reason- 
able. You have had the purse long enough ; give it to me 
now, or else you shall always stay in the sack." What 
could the man do ? Willingly or unwillingly, he had to 
give up the purse in order to get out of the accursed sack. 

For two years Beppo stayed at home, doing much good 
with the purse, and much mischief with the sack, until at 
last he began to long for the capital again, and returned 
there ; but what was his astonishment at seeing everything 
hung with black, and everybody in mourning. " Do you 
not know what the trouble is ? " he was asked, in reply to 
his questions as to the cause of this sorrow; "don't you 
know that to-morrow the Devil is going to carry away the 
king's daughter, on account of a foolish vow that her father 
once made ? " Then he went directly to the king, in order to 



224 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

console him, but the latter would not put any faith in him. 
"Your Majesty," said he, "you do not know what Beppo 
Pipetta can do. Only let me have my own way." 

Then he prepared, in a room of the palace, a large table, 
with paper, pen, and ink, while the princess, in the next 
room, awaited her sad fate in prayer. At midnight a fear- 
ful noise was heard, like the roaring of the tempest ; and at 
the last stroke of the clock, the Devil came through the 
window into — the sack which Beppo held open for him, 
crying, " Jump in ! " " What are you doing here ? " asked 
Beppo of the raging Devil. " How does that concern you ? " 
" I have my reasons," was the bold reply. " Wait a little, 
you rascal ! " cried Beppo ; " I '11 teach you manners ! " and 
he seized a stick and belabored the sack until the Devil in 
anguish called upon all the saints. " Are you going to 
carry off the princess, now ? " " No, no ; only let me out of 
this infamous sack ! " " Do you promise never to molest 
her ? " "I promise, only let me out ! " " No," said Beppo ; 
" you must repeat your promise before witnesses, and also 
give it in writing." Then he called some gentlemen of the 
court into the room, had the promise repeated, and per- 
mitted the Devil to stretch one hand out of the sack, in 
order to write as follows : " I, the very Devil, herewith 
promise that I will neither carry away H. R. H., the Prin- 
cess, nor ever molest her in future. Satan, Spirit of 
Hell." 

" Good ! " said Beppo ; " the affair of the princess is now 
ended. But now, on account of your previous impoliteness, 
allow me to give you a few blows that may serve as remind- 
ers of me on your journey." When he had done this, he 
opened the sack, and the Devil went out as he had come in, 
through the window. 

Then the king gave a great feast, at which Beppo sat 
between him and the princess ; and there was joy through- 
out the whole kingdom. 

After a while Beppo took a pleasure trip and came to a 
place that pleased him so much that he decided to remain 
there ; but the police must needs go through certain cere- 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 225 

monies and wanted to know who he was, whence he came, 
and a multitude of other things. Then he anwered : " I 
am myself ; let that suffice you. If you want to know any- 
thing more, write to the king." Accordingly they wrote to 
the king, but he commanded them to treat him with respect 
and not to disturb him. 

When he had lived for many years in this place and had 
grown old, Death came and knocked at his door. Beppo 
opened it and asked : " Who are you ? " " I am Death," 
was the answer. " Jump in ! " cried Beppo, in great haste, 
and behold ! Death was in the sack. " What ! " he ex- 
claimed, " shall I, who have so much to do, loiter my time 
away here ? " " Just stay where you are, you old villain," 
replied Beppo, and did not let him out for a year and a 
half. Then there was universal satisfaction throughout 
the world, the physicians being^especially jubilant, for none 
of them ever lost a patient. Then Death begged so hum- 
bly and represented so forcibly what would be the conse- 
quences of this disorder, that Beppo agreed to let him out, 
on condition that Death should not come back for him un- 
less he was willing. Death departed and sought by means 
of a few wars and pestilences to make up for lost time. 

At length Beppo grew so old that life became distasteful 
to him. Then he sent for Death, who, however, would not 
come, fearing that Beppo might change his mind. So the 
latter decided to go himself to Death. Death was not at 
home ; but remembering his vacation in the sack, had pru- 
dently left the order that in case a certain Beppo Pipetta 
should come, he was to be beaten soundly ; an order which 
was executed punctiliously. Beaten and cast out by Death, 
he went sadly to hell ; but there the Devil had given the 
porter orders to show him the same attention that he had 
received at Death's abode, and that command also was con- 
scientiously obeyed. 

Smarting from the blows he had received, and vexed that 
neither Death nor the Devil wanted him, he went to para- 
dise. Here he announced himself to St. Peter, but the 
saint thought that he had better first consult the Lord. 
. 15 



226 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Meanwhile Beppo threw his cap over the wall into para- 
dise. After he had waited a while, St. Peter reappeared 
and said : " I am very sorry, but our Lord does n't want 
you here." "Very well," said Beppo, "but you will at 
least let me get my cap," and with that he slipped through 
the gate and sat down on the cap. When St. Peter com- 
manded him to get up and begone, he replied, composedly : 
" Gently, my dear sir! at present I am sitting on my own 
property, where I do not receive orders from any one ! " 

And so he remained in paradise. 25 

The story known to our readers from the Grimm collec- 
tion, " Godfather Death," is found in Sicily and Venice. 
The version from the latter place given in Bernoni {Trad, 
pop. p. 6) is as folldws : 

LXVII. THE JUST MAN. 

Once upon a time there was a peasant and his wife who 
had a child that they would not baptize until they could 
find a just man for his godfather. The father took the 
child in his arms and went into the street to look for this 
just man. After he had walked along a while, he met a 
man, who was our Lord, and said to him : " I have this 
child to baptize, but I do not want to give him to any one 
who is not just; are you just?" The Lord answered: 
" But — I don't know whether I am just." Then the peas- 
ant passed on and met a woman, who was the Madonna, 
and said to her : " I have this child to baptize and do not 
wish to give him to any one who is not just ; are you just ? " 
" I don't know," said the Madonna ; " but go on, for you will 
find some one who is just." He went his way and met an- 
other woman, who was Death, and said to her : " I have 
been sent to you, for I have been told that you are just, 
and I have this child to baptize, and do not wish to give it 
to one who is not just ; are you just ? " Death said : " Yes, 
I believe I am just ! Let us baptize the child, and then I 
will show you whether I am just." Then they baptized the 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 227 

child, and afterwards Death led the peasant into a very long 
room, where there were many lights burning. " Godmoth- 
er," said the man, astonished at seeing all the lights, " what 
are all these lights ? " Death said : " These are the lights 
of all the souls in the world. Would you like to see, friend ? 
this is yours and this is your son's." When the peasant 
saw that his light was about to expire, he said : " And when 
the oil is all consumed, godmother ? " " Then," answered 
Death, " you must come with me, for I am Death." " Oh ! 
for mercy's sake," cried the peasant, "let me at least take 
a little oil from my son's lamp and put it in mine ! " " No, 
no, godfather," said Death, " I don't do anything of that 
sort ; you wished to see a just person, and a just person you 
have found. And now go home and arrange your affairs, 
for I am waiting for you." 26 

We can mention but briefly another Venetian legend 
which, like several of those already given, reaches back to 
the Middle Ages. A wealthy knight, who has led a wicked 
life, repents when he grows old, and his confessor enjoins 
on him a three years' penance. The knight refuses, for he 
might die at the end of two years and lose all that amount 
of penance. He refuses in turn a penance of two years, of 
one year, and even of a month, but agrees to do penance 
for one night. He mounts his horse, takes leave of his 
family, and rides away to the church, which is at some dis- 
tance. After he has ridden for a time, his daughter comes 
running after him and calls him back, for robbers have at- 
tacked the castle. He will not be diverted from his pur- 
pose, and tells her that there are servants and soldiers 
enough to defend the house. Then a servant cries out 
that the castle is in flames, and his own wife calls for help 
against violence. The knight calmly continues his way, 
leaving his servants to act for him, and simply saying : " I 
have no time for it now." 

Finally he enters the church and begins his penance. 
Here he is disturbed by the sexton, who bids him depart, so 
that he can close the church ; a priest orders him to leave, 



228 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

as he is not worthy to hear a mass ; at midnight twelve 
watchmen come and order him to go with them to the 
judge, but he will not move for any of them ; at two 
o'clock a band of soldiers surround him and order him to 
depart, and at five o'clock a wild throng of people burst into 
the church and cry : " Let us drive him out ! " then the 
church begins to burn, and the knight finds himself in the 
midst of flames, but still he moves not. At last, when the 
appointed hour comes, he leaves the church and rides home 
to find that none of his family had left the castle, but the 
various persons who had tried to divert him from his pen- 
ance were emissaries of the Devil. Then the knight sees 
how great a sinner he was and declares that' he will do 
penance all the rest of his life. 27 

Bernoni in his Leggende fantastiche gives nine legends, 
one of which is the story of St. Peter's mother, mentioned 
above. Of the remaining ones, several may be classed un- 
der ghost stories, and two illustrate the great sanctity at- 
tached by the Italian to the spiritual relationship contracted 
by godmothers and godfathers, and by groomsmen and the 
bride. It is well known that in the Romish Church a god- 
father or godmother contracts a spiritual relationship with 
the godson or goddaughter and their parents which would 
prevent marriage between the parties. This relationship 
the popular imagination has extended to the godfather and 
godmother, and any improper intimacy between the two is 
regarded as the most deadly sin. The first of Bernoni's 
legends is entitled : 



LXVIII. OF A GODFATHER AND A GODMOTHER OF ST. 
JOHN WHO MADE LOVE. 

Here in Venice, heaven knows how many centuries ago, 
there wasTa gentleman and a lady, husband and wife, who 
were rich people. Well, there frequented their house a com- 
pare (godfather) of St John; and it came to pass that he 
and his comare (godmother, i. e. the one who had been 
godmother to the same child to which he had been god- 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 229 

father), the lady of the house, made love to each other in 
secret. This lady had a maid, and this maid knew every- 
thing. So one day this lady said to the maid : " Hold your 
tongue, and you '11 see that you will be satisfied with me. 
When I come to die, you shall have an allowance of a dol- 
lar a day." So this maid kept always on good terms with 
the lady. It happened that the compare fell very ill. The 
lady was so desperately sorry, that her husband kept say- 
ing to her : " Come, will you make yourself ill too ? It 's 
no use fretting, for it 's what we must all come to." At 
last the compare died. And she took it so to heart, that 
she fell ill in earnest. When her husband saw her giving 
way to such low spirits, he began to suspect that there had 
been something between her and the compare ; but he never 
said a word about it to annoy her, but bore it like a philos- 
opher. The maid was always by her mistress' bedside, and 
the mistress said to her : " Remember that, if I die, you 
must watch by me quite alone, for I won't have any one 
else." And the maid promised her that she would. Well, 
that day went by, and the next day, and the next, and the 
lady got worse and worse, until at last she died. You can 
fancy how sorry her husband was. And the maid and the 
other servants were very sorry, too, for she was a very 
good lady. The other servants offered to sit up and watch 
with the maid ; but she said : " No ; I must sit up by my- 
self, for my mistress said she would have no others." And 
they said : " Very well. If you want anything, ring the 
bell, and we shall be ready to do anything you want." 
Then the maid had four tapers lighted, and placed at the 
foot of the bed, and she took the Office for the Dead in 
her hand and began to read it. 

Just at midnight the door of the room burst open, and 
she saw the figure of the compare come in. Directly she saw 
him she felt her blood turn to water. She tried to cry out, 
but she was so terrified that she could n't make a sound. 
Then she got up from her chair and went to ring the bell ; 
and the dead man, without saying a word (because, of course, 
dead folks can't talk), gave her a sharp blow on the hand to 



230 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

prevent her from ringing. And he signed her to take a 
taper in her hand, and come with him to her mistress' 
bed. She obeyed. When the dead man got to the bed- 
side, he took the lady, and sat her up on the bed, and he 
began to put her stockings on her feet, and he dressed her 
from head to foot. When she was dressed, he pulled her 
out of bed, took her by the arm, and they both went out 
at the door, with the maid going before them to light the 
way. In this palace there was an underground passage — 
there are many like it in Venice — and they went down into 
it. When they got to a certain part of it, he gave a great 
knock to the taper that the maid had in her hand, and left 
her in the dark. The maid was so terrified that she fell 
down on the ground, all rolled up together like a ball, and 
there she lay. 

At daybreak the other servants thought they would go 
and see how the maid was getting on, as she had not called 
them all night. So they went and opened the door of the 
room, and saw nobody there at all, either living or dead. 
They were frightened out of their wits, and ran to their 
master, and said: " Oh, mercy on us, there's nobody left, 
neither the dead woman nor the live one ! The room 's 
quite empty." Said the master: "You don't say so!" 
Then he dressed himself as fast as he could, and went and 
looked, and found nobody. And he saw that the clothes 
his wife wore to go out in were gone too. Then he called 
the servants, and said to them : " Here, take these torches, 
and let us go and look in the underground passage." So 
all the people went down there with lighted torches ; and 
after searching about a bit, they found the poor maid, who 
gave no sign of life. The servants took her by one arm ; 
but it was all bent up stiff, and wouldn't move. And they 
tried the other arm, and that was the same, and all her 
body was knotted together quite stiff. Then they took up 
this ball of a woman, and carried her up-stairs, and put her 
on her bed. The master sent for the doctors, to see if they 
could bring back life to her. And by degrees she began to 
open her eyes and move her fingers. But she had had a 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 23 1 

stroke and could n't speak. But by the movements of her 
fingers they could make out nearly everything she wanted 
to say. Then the master had the torches lighted again, and 
went down again into the underground passage, to see if 
he could find any trace of the dead woman. They looked 
and looked, but they could find nothing but a deep hole. 
And the master understood directly that that was where 
his wife and her compare had been swallowed up. And 
upon that he went up-stairs again ; but he would n't stay 
any longer in that palace, nor even in Venice, and he went 
away to Verona. And in the palace he left the maid, with 
her dollar a day and people to take care of her and feed 
her, for to the end of her days she was bedridden and 
couldn't speak. And the master would have every one 
free to go and see that sight, that it might be a warning to 
all people who had the evil intention of not respecting the 
baptismal relationship. 28 

The second of Bernoni's legends turns on the peculiar 
sanctity of the relation of a groomsman (compare de Vaneld) 
to the bride. The full title is : " About a compare de Van- 
elo who pressed the bride's hand with evil intent." It is 
as follows : 

LIX. THE GROOMSMAN. 

You must know that we Venetians have a saying that 
the groomsman is the godfather of the first child. Well, in 
the parish of the Angel Raphael it happened that there 
was a young man and woman who were in love with each 
other. So they agreed to be married, and the bridegroom 
looked out for his best man. According to custom, directly 
he had chosen his best man, he took him to the bride's 
house, and said to her : " Look here, this is your grooms- 
man." Directly the groomsman saw the bride he fell so 
much in love with her that he consented more than will- 
ingly to be the best man. Well, the wedding day came, 
and this man went into the church with evil thoughts in his 
heart. When they came out of the church they had a col- 



232 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

lation, according to custom, and then in the afternoon they 
had a gondola to go to the tavern, as people used to do on 
such days. First the bride got into the gondola, with the 
best man, and then the bridegroom and the relations. 
When they were getting into the boat the groomsman took 
the bride's hand to help her in, and he squeezed it, and 
squeezed it so hard that he hurt her severely. 

As time went on he saw that the bride thought nothing 
about him, and he began not to care for her, either. But 
by and by he began to have a sort of scruple of conscience 
about what he had done to his comare on the wedding day. 
And the more he thought of it, the more he felt this scruple. 
So he made up his mind to go to confession, and to tell his 
confessor what he had done, and with what evil intention. 
" You have committed a great sin, my son," said the priest ; 
" I shall give you a penance, — a heavy penance. Will you 
do it ? " " Yes, father," said he ; " tell me what it is." The 
priest answered: "Listen. You must make a journey in 
the night-time to a place that I shall tell you of. But mind ; 
whatever voices you hear, you must never turn back for an 
instant ! And take three apples with you, and you will 
meet three noblemen, and you must give one apple to each 
of them." Then the priest told him the place he was to go 
to, and the groomsman left him. Well, he waited until 
night-fall, and then he took his three apples and set out. 
He walked and walked and walked, until at last he came to 
the place the priest had told him of, and he heard such a 
talking and murmuring, you can't think ! One voice said 
one thing, and one another. These were all folks who had 
committed great sins against St. John ; but he knew noth- 
ing about that. He heard them calling out : " Turn back ! 
turn back ! " But not he ! No ; he went straight on, with- 
out ever looking round, let them call ever so much. After 
he had gone on a while he saw the three noblemen, and he 
saluted them and gave them an apple apiece. The last of 
the three had his arm hidden under his cloak, and the com- 
pare saw that the gentleman had great difficulty in stretch- 
ing his arm out to take the apple. At length he pulled his 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 233 

arm from under his cloak, and showed a hand swelled up 
to such a huge size that the compare was frightened to look 
at it. But he gave him the apple, the same as to the others, 
and they all three thanked him and went away. The com- 
pare returned home again, and went to his confessor and 
told him all that had happened. Then the priest said : 
" See, now, my son, you are saved. For the first of the 
three noblemen was the Lord, the second was St. Peter, 
and the third was St. John. You saw what a hand he had. 
Well, that was the hand you squeezed on the wedding day ; 
and so, instead of squeezing the bride's hand, you really 
hurt St. John ! " 29 

The third legend is entitled : " Of two compari of St. 
John who swore by the name of St. John." Two compari 
who had not seen each other for some time met one day, 
and one invited the other to lunch and paid the bill. The 
other declared that he would do the same a week hence. 
When he said this they happened to be standing where two 
streets crossed. " Then we meet a week from to-day at this 
spot and at this hour ! " " Yes." " By St. John, I will not 
fail ! " "I swear by St. John that I will be here awaiting 
you ! " During the week, however, the compare who had paid 
for the lunch died. The other did not know he was dead, and 
at the appointed time he went to the place to meet him. 
While there a friend passed, who asked : " What are you 
doing here ? " " I am waiting for my compare Tony." " You 
are waiting for your compare Tony ! Why, he has been 
dead three days ! You will wait a long time! " "You say 
he is dead ? There he is coming ! " And, indeed, he saw 
him, but his friend did not. The dead man stopped before 
his compare and said : " You are right in being here at this 
spot, and you can thank God ; otherwise, I would teach you 
to swear in the name of St. John ! " Then he suddenly dis- 
appeared and his compare saw him no more, for his oath 
was only to be at that spot. 

The sanctity of an ordinary oath is shown in the fourth 
story : " Of two lovers who swore fidelity in life and death." 



234 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Two young persons made love, unknown to the girl's par- 
ents. The youth made her swear that she would love him 
in life and death. Some time after, he was killed in a brawl. 
The girl did not know it, and the young man's ghost con- 
tinued to visit her as usual, and she began to grow pale 
and thin. The father discovered the state of the case, and 
consulted the priest, who learned from the girl, in confes- 
sion, how matters stood, and came with a black cat, a stole, 
and book, to conjure the spirit and save the girl. 

The fifth legend is entitled : " The Night of the Dead " ; 
i. e. the eve of All Saints' Day. A servant girl, rising early 
one morning as she supposed (it was really midnight), wit- 
nesses a weird procession, which she unwittingly disturbs 
by lowering her candle and asking the last passer-by to 
light it. This he does ; but when she pulls up her basket 
she finds in it, besides the lighted candle, a human arm. 
Her confessor tells her to wait a year, until the procession 
passes again, then hold a black cat tightly in her arms, and 
restore the arm to its owner. This she does, with the 
words : " Here, master, take your arm ; I am much obliged 
to you." He took the arm angrily, and said : " You may 
thank God you have that cat in your arms ; otherwise, what 
I am, that you would be also." 

The sixth legend is of an incredulous priest, who believes 
that where the dead are, there they stay. It is as follows : 

LXX. THE PARISH PRIEST OF SAN MARCUOLA. 

Once upon a time there was a parish priest at San Mar- 
cuola, here in Venice, who was a very good man. He 
could n't bear to see women in church with hats or bonnets 
on their heads, and he had spirit enough to go and make 
them take them off. "For," said he, "the church is the 
house of God ; and what is not permitted to men ought not 
to be permitted to women." But when a woman had a 
shawl over her shoulders he would have her throw it over 
her head, that she might not be stared at and ogled. But this 
priest had one fault : he did not believe in ghosts ; and one 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 235 

day he was preaching a sermon, and in this sermon he said 
to the people : " Listen, now, dearly beloved brethren. This 
morning, when I came into the church here, there comes up 
to me one of my flock, and she says to me, all in a flutter : 
' Oh, Father, what a fright I have had this night ! I was 
asleep in my bed, and the ghosts came and twitched away 
my coverlet ! ' But I answered her : ' Dear daughter, that is 
not possible ; because where the dead are, there they stay.' " 
And so he declared before all the congregation that it was 
not true that the dead could come back and be seen and 
heard. In the evening the priest went to bed as usual, and 
about midnight he heard the house-bell ring loudly. The 
servant went out on to the balcony and saw a great com- 
pany of people in the street, and she called out : " Who 's 
there ? " and they asked her if the Priest of San Marcuola 
was at home. And she said Yes ; but he was in bed. 
Then they said he must come down. But the priest, when 
he heard about it, refused to go. They then began to ring 
the bell again and tell the servant to call her master ; and 
the priest said he would n't go anywhere. Then all the 
doors burst open, and the whole company marched up-stairs 
into the priest's bedroom, and bade him get up and dress 
himself and come with them ; and he was obliged to do 
what they said. When they reached a certain spot they 
set him in the midst of them, and they gave him so many 
knocks and cuffs that he did n't know which side to turn 
himself ; and then they said : " This is for a remembrance 
of the poor defunct ; " and upon that they all vanished away 
and were seen no more, and the poor priest went back 
home, bruised from head to foot. And so the ghosts proved 
plain enough that it is n't true to say : " Where the dead are, 
there they stay" 30 

The story of Don Juan appears in the seventh legend, 
entitled : 



236 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

LXXI. THE GENTLEMAN WHO KICKED A SKULL. 

There was once a youth who did nothing but eat, drink, 
and amuse himself, because he was immensely wealthy and 
had nothing to think about. He scoffed at every one ; he 
dishonored all the young girls ; he played all sorts of tricks, 
and was tired of everything. One day he took it into his 
head to give a grand banquet ; and thereupon he invited 
all his friends and many women and all his acquaintances. 

While they were preparing the banquet he took a walk, 
and passed through a street where there was a cemetery. 
While walking he noticed on the ground a skull. He gave 
it a kick, and then he went up to it and said to it in jest : 
" You, too, will come, will you not, to my banquet to-night ? " 
Then he went his way, and returned home. At the house 
the banquet was ready and the guests had all arrived. 
They sat down to the table, and ate and drank to the sound 
of music, and diverted themselves joyfully. 

Meanwhile midnight drew near, and when the clock was 
on the stroke a ringing of bells was heard. The servants 
went to see who it was, and beheld a great ghost, who said 
to them : " Tell Count Robert that I am the one he invited 
this morning to his banquet." They went to their master 
and told him what the ghost had said. The master said : 
" I ? All those whom I invited are here, and I have invited 
no one else." They said : " If you should see him ! It is 
a ghost that is terrifying." Then it came into the young 
man's mind that it might be that dead man ; and he said 
to the servants : " Quick ! quick ! close the doors and bal- 
conies, so that he cannot enter ! " The servants went to 
close everything ; but hardly had they done so when the 
doors and balconies were thrown wide open and the ghost 
entered. He went up where they were feasting, and said : 
" Robert ! Robert ! was it not enough for you to profane 
everything? Have you wished to disturb the dead, also? 
The end has come ! " All were terrified, and fled here and 
there, some concealing themselves, and some falling on 
their knees. Then the ghost seized Robert by the throat 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 237 

and strangled him and carried him away with him ; and 
thus he has left this example, that it is not permitted to 
mock the poor dead. 31 

The ninth and last of Bernoni's legends is a story about 
Massariol, the domestic spirit of the Venetians. A man of 
family, whose business takes him out at night, finds in the 
street a basket containing an infant. The weather is very 
cold, so the good man carries the foundling home, and his 
wife, who already has a young child, makes the little stran- 
ger as comfortable as possible. He is cared for and put in 
the cradle by the side of the other child. The husband 
and wife have to leave the room a moment ; when they re- 
turn the foundling has disappeared. The husband asks in 
amazement : " What can it mean ? " She answers : " I am 
sure I don't know ; can it be Massariol ? " Then he goes 
out on the balcony and sees at a distance one who seems 
like a man, but is not, who is clapping his hands and laugh- 
ing and making all manner of fun of him, and then suddenly 
disappears. 

The same mischievous spirit plays many other pranks. 
Sometimes he cheats the ferrymen out of their toll ; some- 
times he disguises himself like the baker's lad, and calls at 
the houses to take the bread to the oven, and then carries 
it away to some square or bridge ; sometimes, when the 
washing is hung out, he carries it off to some distant place, 
and when the owners have at last found their property, 
Massariol laughs in their faces and disappears. The woman 
who related these stories to Bernoni added : " Massariol 
has never done anything bad ; he likes to laugh and joke 
and fool people. He, too, has been shut up, I don't know 
where, by the Holy Office, the same as the witches, fairies, 
and magicians." 

Pitre's collection contains little that falls under the sec- 
ond heading of this chapter. The following story, how- 
ever, is interesting from its English parallels : 



238 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

LXXIII. SADDAEDDA. 

Once upon a time there was a girl called Saddaedda, who 
was crazy. One day, when her mother had gone into the 
country and she was left alone in the house, she went into 
a church where the funeral service was being read over the 
body of a rich lady. The girl hid herself in the confes- 
sional. No one knew she was there ; so, when the other 
people had gone, she was left alone with the corpse. It 
was dressed out in a rose-colored robe and everything else 
becoming, and it had ear-rings in its ears and rings on its 
fingers. These the girl took off, and then she began to un- 
dress the body. When she came to the stockings she drew 
off one easily, but at the other she had to pull so hard that 
at last the leg came off with it. Saddaedda took the leg, 
carried it to her lonely home, and locked it up in a box. At 
night came the dead lady and knocked at the door. "Who 's 
there ? " said the girl. " It is I," answered the corpse. 
" Give me back my leg and stocking ! " But Saddaedda 
paid no heed to the request. Next day she prepared a feast 
and invited some of her playfellows to spend the night with 
her. They came, feasted, and went to sleep. At midnight 
the dead woman began to knock at the door and to repeat 
last night's request. Saddaedda took no notice of the noise, 
but her companions, whom it awoke, were horrified, and as 
soon as they could, they ran away. On the third night just 
the same happened. On the fourth she could persuade only 
one girl to keep her company. On the fifth she was left 
entirely alone. The corpse came, forced open the door, 
strode up to Saddaedda's bed, and strangled her. Then 
the dead woman opened the box, took out her leg and 
stocking, and carried them off with her to her grave. 32 

This chapter would be incomplete without reference to 
treasure stories. A number of these are given by Miss 
Busk in her interesting collection. A few are found in Pi- 
tre, only one of which needs mention here, on account of 
its parallels in other countries. It is called Lu Vicerrh Tun- 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 239 

nina, " Viceroy Tunny " (tunnina is the flesh of the tunny- 
fish). There was at Palermo a man who sold tunny-fish. 
One night he dreamed that some one appeared to him and 
said : " Do you wish to find your Fate ? Go under the 
bridge di li Testi (of the Heads, so the people call the 
Ponte delV Ammiraglio, a bridge now abandoned, con- 
structed in 1 1 13 by the Admiral Georgios Antiochenos) ; 
there you will find it." For three nights he dreamed the 
same thing. The third time, he went under the bridge and 
found a poor man all in rags. The fish-seller was fright- 
ened and was going away, when the man called him. It 
was his Fate. He said : " To-night, at midnight, where 
you have placed the barrels of fish, dig, and what you find 
is yours." 

The fish-dealer did as he was told ; dug, and found a 
staircase, which he descended, and found a room full of 
money. The fish-dealer became wealthy, lent the king of 
Spain money, and was made viceroy and raised to the rank 
of prince and duke. 33 



CHAPTER V. 

NURSERY TALES. 

The tales we have thus far given, although they may 
count many young people among their auditors, are not 
distinctly children's stories. The few that follow are, and 
it is greatly to be regretted that their number is not larger. 
That many more exist, cannot be doubted ; but collectors 
have probably overlooked this interesting class. Even Pitre 
in his large collection gives but eleven (Nos. 1 30-141), and 
those in the other collections are mostly parallels to Pitre' s. 

We will begin with those that are advantages taken of 
children's love for stories. The first is from Venice (Ber- 
noni, Punt. II. p. 53) and is called : 

LXXIV. MR. ATTENTIVE. 

" Do you want me to tell you the story of Mr. Atten- 
tive ? " 

" Tell me it." 

" But you must not say ' tell me it,' for it is 

The story of Mr. Attentive, 

Which lasts a long time, 
Which is never explained : 

Do you wish me to tell it, or relate it ? " 

" Relate it." 

" But you must not say ' relate it,' for it is 

The story of Mr. Attentive, 

Which lasts a long time, 
Which is never explained : 

Do you wish me to tell it, or relate it ? " 

" But come ! tell me it" 



NURSERY TALES. 24 1 

" But you must not say," etc., etc. 1 

The following are intended to soothe restless children, 
and are so short that they may be given entire. 

LXXV. THE STORY OF THE BARBER. 

Once upon a time there was a barber. ... Be good and 
I will tell it to you again. 2 

The next is from the same source. 

Once upon a time there was a king, a pope, and a dwarf. 
. . . This king, this pope, and this dwarf. . . . 
(Then the story-teller begins again). 

But it is time to give some of the stories that are told to 
the good children. The first is from Pitre (No. 130) and is 
called : 

LXXVI. DON FIRRIULIEDDU. 

Once upon a time there was a farmer who had a daughter 
who used to take his dinner to him in the fields. One day 
he said to her : " So that you may find me I will sprinkle 
bran along the way ; you follow the bran, and you will come 
to me." 

By chance the old ogre passed that way, and seeing the 
bran, said : " This means something." So he took the bran 
and scattered it so that it led to his own house. 

When the daughter set out to take her father his dinner, 
she followed the bran until she came to the ogre's house. 
When the ogre saw the young girl, he said : " You must 
be my wife." Then she began to weep. When the father 
saw that his daughter did not appear, he went home in the 
evening, and began to search for her ; and not finding her, 
he asked God to give him a son or a daughter. 

A year after, he had a son whom they called " Don Fir- 
riulieddti." When the child was three days old it spoke, 
and said : " Have you made me a cloak ? Now give me a 
16 



242 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

little dog and the cloak, for I must look for my sister. " So 
he set out and went to seek his sister. 

After a while he came to a plain where he saw a number 
of men, and asked : " Whose cattle are these ? " The herds- 
man replied : " They belong to the ogre, who fears neither 
God nor the saints, who fears Don Firriulieddu, who is 
three days old, and is on the way, and gives his dog bread 
and says : ' Eat, my dog, and do not bark, for we have fine 
things to do.' " 

Afterwards he saw a flock of sheep, and asked : " Whose 
are these sheep ? " and received the same answer as from 
the herdsman. Then he arrived at the ogre's house and 
knocked, and his sister opened the door and saw the child. 
" Who are you looking for ? " she said. " I am looking for 
you, for I am your brother, and you must return to mamma." 

When the ogre heard that Don Firriulieddu was there, 
he went and hid himself up-stairs. Don Firriulieddu asked 
his sister : " Where is the ogre ? " " Up-stairs." Don 
Firriulieddu said to his dog : " Go up-stairs and bark, and I 
will follow you." The dog went up and barked, and Firri- 
ulieddu followed him, and killed the ogre. Then he took 
his sister and a quantity of money, and they went home to 
their mother, and are all contented. 

Certain traits in the above story, as the size of the hero 
and the bran serving to guide the girl to her father, recall, 
somewhat faintly, it is true, our own " Tom Thumb." It 
is only recently that a Tuscan version of " Tom Thumb " 
has been found. 3 It is called : 

LXXVII. LITTLE CHICK-PEA* 

Once upon a time there was a husband and wife who had 
no children. The husband was a carpenter, and when he 
came home from his shop he did nothing but scold his wife 
because she had no children, and the poor woman was con- 
stantly weeping and despairing. She was charitable, and 

* Cecino, dim. of Cece, chick-pea. 



NURSERY TALES. 243 

had festivals celebrated in the church ; but no children. 
One day a woman knocked at her door and asked for alms ; 
but the carpenter's wife answered : " I will not give you 
any, for I have given alms and had masses said, and festi- 
vals celebrated for a long time, and have no son." " Give 
me alms and you will have children." " Good ! in that case 
I will do all you wish." " You must give me a whole loaf 
of bread, and I will give you something that will bring 
you children." "If you will, I will give you two loaves." 
" No, no ! now, I want only one ; you can give me the other 
when you have the children." So she gave her a loaf, and 
the woman said : " Now I will go home and give my chil- 
dren something to eat, and then I will bring you what will 
make you have children." " Very well." 

The woman went home, fed her children, and then took 
a little bag, filled it with chick-peas, and carried it to the 
carpenter's wife, and said: "This is a bag of peas; put 
them in the kneading-trough, and to-morrow they will be 
as many sons as there are peas." There were a hundred 
peas, and the carpenter's wife said : " How can a hundred 
peas become a hundred sons ? " " You will see to-morrow." 
The carpenter's wife said to herself : " I had better say 
nothing about it to my husband, because if by any mis- 
chance the children should not come, he would give me 
a fine scolding." 

Her husband returned at night and began to grumble as 
usual ; but his wife said not a word and went to bed repeat- 
ing to herself : " To-morrow you will see ! " The next morn- 
ing the hundred peas had become a hundred sons. One 
cried: "Papa, I want to drink." Another said : "Papa, I 
want to eat." Another : " Papa, take me up." He, in the 
midst of all this tumult, took a stick and went to the trough 
and began to beat, and killed them all. One fell out (imag- 
ine how small they were !) and ran quickly into the bedroom 
and hid himself on the handle of the pitcher. After the 
carpenter had gone to his shop his wife said : " What a ras- 
cal ! he has grumbled so long about my not having children 
and now he has killed them all ! " Then the son who had 



244 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

escaped said : " Mamma, has papa gone ? " She said : " Yes, 
my son. How did you manage to escape ? Where are 
you ? " " Hush ! I am in the handle of the pitcher ; tell me : 
has papa gone ? " " Yes, yes, yes, come out ! " Then the 
child who had escaped came out and his mamma exclaimed : 
" Oh ! how pretty you are ! How shall I call you ? " The 
child answered : " Cecino." " Very well, bravo, my Cecino ! 
Do you know, Cecino, you must go and carry your papa's 
dinner to him at the shop." " Yes, you must put the little 
basket on my head, and I will go and carry it to papa." 

The carpenter's wife, when it was time, put the basket on 
Cecino's head and sent him to carry her husband's dinner 
to him. When Cecino was near the shop, he began to cry : 
" O papa ! come and meet me ; I am bringing you your din- 
ner." 

The carpenter said to himself : " Oh ! did I kill them all, 
or are there any left ?" He went to meet Cecino and said : 
" O my good boy ! how did you escape my blows ? " " I fell 
down, ran into the room, and hid myself on the handle of 
the pitcher." " Bravo, Cecino ! Listen. You must go around 
among the country people and hear whether they have any- 
thing broken to mend." "Yes." 

So the carpenter put Cecino in his pocket, and while he 
went along the way did nothing but chatter ; so that every 
one said he was mad, because they did not know that he 
had his son in his pocket. When he saw some countrymen 
he asked: "Have you anything to mend?" "Yes, there 
are some things about the oxen broken, but we cannot let 
you mend them, for you are mad." " What do you mean by 
calling me mad ? I am wiser than you. Why do you say I 
am mad ? " " Because you do nothing but talk to yourself 
on the road." "I was talking with my son." "And where 
do you keep your son ? " " In my pocket." " That is a 
pretty place to keep your son." "Very well, I will show 
him to you ; " and he pulls out Cecino, who was so small 
that he stood on one of his father's fingers. 

"Oh, what a pretty child! you must sell him to us." 
" What are you thinking about ! I sell you my son who is so 



NURSERY TALES. 245 

valuable to me ! " " Well, then, don't sell him to us." What 
does he do then ? He takes Cecino and puts him on the 
horn of an ox and says : " Stay there, for now I am going 
to get the things to mend." "Yes, yes, don't be afraid; I 
will stay on my horn." So the carpenter went to get the 
things to mend. 

Meanwhile two thieves passed by, and seeing the oxen, 
one said : " See those two oxen there alone. Come, let us go 
and steal them." When they drew near, Cecino cried out : 
" Papa, look out ! there are thieves here ! they are stealing 
your oxen ! " " Ah ! where does that voice come from ? " 
And they approached nearer to see ; and Cecino, the nearer 
he saw them come, the more he called out : " Look out for 
your oxen, papa ; the thieves are stealing them ! " 

When the carpenter came the thieves said to him : 
" Good man, where does that voice come from ? " " It is my 
son." " If he is not here, where is he ? " " Don't you see ? 
there he is, up on the horn of one of the oxen." When he 
showed him to them, they said : " You must sell him to us ; 
we will give you as much money as you wish." " What are 
you thinking about ! I might sell him to you, but who knows 
how much my wife would grumble about it ! " " Do you 
know what you must tell her ? that he died on the way." 

They tempted him so much that at last he gave him to 
them for two sacks of money. They took their Cecino, put 
him in one of their pockets, and went away. On their jour- 
ney they saw the king's stable. " Let us take a look at the 
king's stable and see whether we can steal a pair of horses." 
"Very good." They said to Cecino: "Don't betray us." 
" Don't be afraid, I will not betray you." 

So they went into the stable and stole three horses, which 
they took home and put in their own stable. 

Afterwards they went and said to Cecino : " Listen. We 
are so tired ! save us the trouble, go down and give the 
horses some oats." Cecino went to do so, but fell asleep on 
the halter and one of the horses swallowed him. When he 
did not return, the thieves said : "He must have fallen 
asleep in the stable." So they went there and looked for 



246 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

him and called : " Cecino, where are you ? " " Inside of the 
black horse." Then they killed the black horse ; but Ce- 
cino was not there. " Cecino, where are you ? " " In the 
bay horse." So they killed the bay horse ; but Cecino was 
not there. " Cecino, where are you ? " But Cecino an- 
swered no longer. Then they said : " What a pity ! that 
child who was so useful to us is lost." Then they dragged 
out into the fields the two horses that they had cut open. 

A famished wolf passed that way and saw the dead horses. 
" Now I will eat my fill of horse," and he ate and ate until 
he had finished and had swallowed Cecino.* Then the wolf 
went off until it became hungry again and said : " Let us 
go and eat a goat." 

When Cecino heard the wolf talk about eating a goat, he 
cried out : " Goat-herd, the wolf is coming to eat your 
goats ! " 

[The wolf supposes that it has swallowed some wind that 
forms these words, hits itself against a stone, and after 
several trials gets rid of the wind and Cecino, who hides 
himself under a stone, so that he shall not be seen.] 

Three robbers passed that way with a bag of money. 
One of them said : " Now I will count the money, and you 
others be quiet or I will kill you ! " You can imagine 
whether they kept still ! for they did not want to die. So 
he began to count : " One, two, three, four, and five." 
And Cecino : " One, two, three, four, and five." (Do you 
understand ? he repeats the robber's words.) " I hear you ! 
you will not keep still. Well, I will kill you ; we shall see 
whether you will speak again." He began to count the 
money again : " One, two, three, four, and five." Cecino re- 
peats : " One, two, three, four, and five." " Then you will 
not keep quiet ! now I will kill you ! " and he killed one of 
them. " Now we shall see whether you will talk ; if you do 
I will kill you too." He began to count : " One, two, three, 
four, and five." Cecino repeats : " One, two, three, four, 
and five." " Take care, if I have to tell you again I will 

* It appears from this that Cecino had been in one of the horses all the time, 
but the thieves had not seen him because he was so small. 



NURSERY TALES. 247 

kill you ! " " Do you think I want to speak ? I don't wish 
to be killed." He begins to count : " One, two, three, four, 
and five." Cecino repeats : " One, two, three, four, and 
five." " You will not keep quiet either ; now I will kill you ! " 
and he killed him. " Now I am alone and can count by 
myself and no one will repeat it." So he began again to 
count : " One, two, three, four, and five." And Cecino : 
" One, two, three, four, and five." Then the robber said : 
" There is some one hidden here ; I had better run away or 
he will kill me." So he ran away and left behind the sack 
of money. 

When Cecino perceived that there was no one there, he 
came out, put the bag of money on his head, and started for 
home. When he drew near his parents' house he cried : 
" Oh, mamma, come and meet me ; I have brought you a 
bag of money ! " 

When his mother heard him she went to meet him and 
took the money and said : " Take care you don't drown 
yourself in these puddles of rain-water." The mother went 
home, and turned back to look for Cecino, but he was not 
to be seen. She told her husband what Cecino had done, 
and they went and searched everywhere for him, and at last 
found him drowned in a puddle. 4 

The next story is one that has always enjoyed great pop- 
ularity over the whole of Europe, and is a most interesting 
example of the diffusion of nursery tales. It is also interest- 
ing from the attempt to show that it is of comparatively late 
date, and has been borrowed from a people not of European 
extraction. 5 The story belongs to the class of what may be 
called "accumulative" stories, of which "The House that 
Jack built " is a good example. It is a version of the story 
so well known in English of the old woman who found a 
little crooked sixpence, and went to market and bought a 
little pig. As she was coming home the pig would not go 
over the stile. The old woman calls on a dog to bite pig, 
but the dog will not. Then she calls in turn on a stick, fire, 
water, ox, butcher, rope, rat, and cat. They all refuse to 



248 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

help her except the cat, which promises help in exchange 
for a saucer of milk. " So away went the old woman to the 
cow. But the cow said to her : ' If you will go to yonder 
hay-stack and fetch me a handful of hay, I '11 give you the 
milk.' So away went the old woman to the hay-stack ; 
and she brought the hay to the cow. As soon as the cow 
had eaten the hay, she gave the old woman the milk ; and 
away she went with it in a saucer to the cat. 

" As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat be- 
gan to kill the rat ; the rat to gnaw the rope ; the rope be- 
gan to hang the butcher ; the butcher began to kill the ox ; 
the ox began to drink the water ; the water began to quench 
the fire ; the fire began to burn the stick ; the stick began 
to beat the dog ; the dog began to bite the pig ; the little 
pig in a fright jumped over the stile, and so the old woman 
got home that night." 6 

The Italian versions may be divided into two classes : 
first, where the animals and inanimate objects are invoked 
to punish some human being ; second, where all the actors 
are animals. The first version of the first class that we shall 
give is from Sicily, Pitre, No. 131, and is called : 



LXXVIII. PITIDDA. 

Once upon a time there was a mother who had a daughter 
named Pitidda. She said to her : " Go sweep the house." 
" Give me some bread first." "I cannot," she answered. 
When her mother saw that she would not sweep the house, 
she called the wolf. " Wolf, go kill Pitidda, for Pitidda will 
not sweep the house." " I can't," said the wolf. " Dog, 
go kill the wolf," said the mother, " for the wolf will not kill 
Pitidda, for Pitidda will not sweep the house." "I can't," 
said the dog. " Stick, go kill the dog, for the dog will not 
kill the wolf, for the wolf won't kill Pitidda, for Pitidda 
won't sweep the house." " I can't," said the stick." " Fire, 
burn stick, for stick won't kill dog, for dog won't kill wolf, 
for wolf won't kill Pitidda, for Pitidda won't sweep the 
house." "I can't," said the fire. "Water, quench fire, for 



NURSERY TALES. 249 

fire won't burn stick, for stick won't kill dog, for dog won't 
kill wolf, for wolf won't kill Pitidda, for Pitidda won't sweep 
the house." " I can't." " Cow, go drink water, for water 
won't quench fire, for fire won't burn stick, for stick won't 
kill dog, for dog won't kill wolf, for wolf won't kill Pitidda, 
for Pitidda won't sweep the house." " I can't," said the 
cow. " Rope, go choke cow," etc. 

[Then the mother calls on the mouse to gnaw the rope, 
the cat to eat the mouse, and the story ends.] 

The cat runs and begins to eat the mouse, the mouse 
runs and begins to gnaw the rope, the rope to choke the 
cow, the cow to drink the water, the water to quench the 
fire, the fire to burn the stick, the stick to kill the dog, the 
dog to kill the wolf, the wolf to kill Pitidda, Pitidda to sweep 
the house, and her mother runs and gives her some bread. 7 

The Italian story, it will be seen, has a moral. The an- 
imals, etc., are invoked to punish a disobedient child. In 
the Neapolitan version a mother sends her son to gather 
some fodder for the cattle. He does not wish to go until 
he has had some macaroni that his mother has just cooked. 
She promises to keep him some, and he departs. While he 
is gone the mother eats up all the macaroni, except a small 
bit. When her son returns, and sees how little is left for 
him, he begins to cry and refuses to eat ; and his mother 
calls on stick, fire, water, ox, rope, mouse, and cat to make 
her son obey, and eat the macaroni. 8 The disobedient son 
is also found in two Tuscan versions, one from Siena, and 
one from Florence, which are almost identical. 9 

In the Venetian version, a naughty boy will not go to 
school, and his mother invokes dog, stick, fire, water, ox, 
butcher, and soldier. 10 

The Sicilian story of "The Sexton's Nose" (Pitre, No. 
135) will serve as the connecting link between the two 
classes above mentioned. Properly speaking, only the 
second part of it belongs here ; but we will give a brief 
analysis of the first also. 



250 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

LXXIX. THE SEXTON'S NOSE. 

A sexton, one day in sweeping the church, found a piece 
of money (it was the fifth of a cent) and deliberated with 
himself as to what he would buy with it. If he bought nuts 
or almonds, he was afraid of the mice ; so at last he bought 
some roasted peas, and ate all but the last pea. This he 
took to a bakery near by, and asked the mistress to keep it 
for him ; she told him to leave it on a bench, and she would 
take care of it. When she went to get it, she found that 
the cock had eaten it. The next day the sexton came for 
the roast pea, and when he heard what had become of it, 
he said they must either return the roast pea or give him 
the cock. This they did, and the sexton, not having any 
place to keep it, took it to a miller's wife, who promised to 
keep it for him. Now she had a pig, which managed to 
kill the cock. The next day the sexton came for the cock, 
and on finding it dead, demanded the pig, and the woman 
had to give it to him. The pig he left with a friend of his, 
a pastry-cook, whose daughter was to be married the next 
day. The woman was mean and sly, and killed the pig for 
her daughter's wedding, meaning to tell the sexton that the 
pig had run away. The sexton, however, when he heard it, 
made a great fuss, and declared that she must give him back 
his pig or her daughter. At last she had to give him her 
daughter, whom he put in a bag and carried away. He took 
the bag to a woman who kept a shop, and asked her to keep 
for him this bag, which he said contained bran. ' The woman 
by chance kept chickens, and she thought she would take 
some of the sexton's bran and feed them. When she 
opened the bag she found the young girl, who told her how 
she came there. The woman took her out of the sack, and 
put in her stead a dog. The next day the sexton came for 
his bag, and putting it on his shoulder, started for the sea- 
shore, intending to throw the young girl in the sea. When 
he reached the shore, he opened the bag, and the furious 
dog flew out and bit his nose. The sexton was in great 
agony, and cried out, while the blood ran down his face in 



NURSERY TALES. 2$ I 

torrents : " Dog, dog, give me a hair to put in my nose, 
and heal the bite." * The dog answered : " Do you want a 
hair? give me some bread." The sexton ran to a bakery, 
and said to the baker : " Baker, give me some bread to give 
the dog ; the dog will give a hair ; the hair I will put in my 
nose, and cure the bite." The baker said : " Do you want 
bread ? give me some wood." The sexton ran to the wood- 
man. " Woodman, give me wood to give the baker ; the 
baker will give me bread ; the bread I will give to the dog ; 
the dog will give me a hair ; the hair I will put in my nose, 
and heal the bite." The woodman said: "Do you want 
wood ? give me a mattock." The sexton ran to a smith. 
" Smith, give me a mattock to give the woodman ; the wood- 
man will give me wood ; I will carry the wood to the baker ; 
the baker will give me bread ; I will give the bread to the 
dog ; the dog will give me a hair ; the hair I will put in my 
nose, and heal the bite." The smith said: "Do you want 
a mattock ? give me some coals." The sexton ran to the 
collier. " Collier, give me some coals to give the smith ; 
the smith will give me a mattock ; the mattock I will give 
the woodman ; the woodman will give me some wood ; the 
wood I will give the baker ; the baker will give me bread ; 
the bread I will give the dog ; the dog will give me a hair ; 
the hair I will put in my nose, and heal the bite." " Do 
you want coals ? give me a cart." The sexton ran to the 
wagon-maker. " Wagon-maker, give me a cart to give the 
collier ; the collier will give me some coals ; the coals I will 
carry to the smith ; the smith will give me a mattock ; the 
mattock I will give the woodman ; the woodman will give 
me some wood ; the wood I will give the baker ; the baker 
will give me bread ; the bread I will give to the dog ; the 
dog will give me a hair ; the hair I will put in my nose, and 
heal the bite." 

The wagon-maker, seeing the sexton's great lamentation, 
is moved to compassion, and gives him the cart. The sex- 
ton, well pleased, takes the cart and goes away to the collier ; 

* As with us the hair of a dog is supposed to heal the bite the same dog has 
inflicted. 



252 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the collier gives him the coals ; the coals he takes to the 
smith ; the smith gives him the mattock ; the mattock he 
takes to the woodman ; the woodman gives him wood ; the 
wood he carries to the baker ; the baker gives him bread ; 
the bread he carries to the dog ; the dog gives him a hair ; 
the hair he puts in his nose, and heals the bite. 11 

The second class contains the versions in which all the 
actors are animals or personified inanimate objects. The 
first example we shall give is from Avellino in the Princi- 
pato Ulteriore (Imbriani, p. 239), and is called : 

LXXX. THE COCK AND THE MOUSE. 

Once upon a time there was a cock and a mouse. One 
day the mouse said to the cock : " Friend Cock, shall we 
go and eat some nuts on yonder tree?" "As you like." 
So they both went under the tree and the mouse climbed 
up at once and began to eat. The poor cock began to fly, 
and flew and flew, but could not come where the mouse 
was. When it saw that there was no hope of getting there, 
it said : " Friend Mouse, do you know what I want you to 
do? Throw me a nut." The mouse went and threw one 
and hit the cock on the head. The poor cock, with its 
head broken and all covered with blood, went away to an 
old woman. " Old aunt, give me some rags to cure my 
head." " If you will give me two hairs, I will give you the 
rags." The cock went away to a dog. " Dog, give me 
some hairs ; the hairs I will give the old woman ; the old 
woman will give me rags to cure my head." " If you will 
give me a little bread," said the dog, " I will give you the 
hairs." The cock went away to a baker. "Baker, give me 
bread ; I will give the bread to the dog ; the dog will give 
hairs ; the hairs I will carry to the old woman ; the old 
woman will give me rags to cure my head." The baker 
answered : " I will not give you bread unless you give me 
some wood ! " The cock went away to the forest. " For- 
est, give me some wood ; the wood I will carry to the baker ; 



NURSERY TALES. 253 

the baker will give me some bread ; the bread I will give to 
the dog ; the dog will give me hairs ; the hairs I will carry- 
to the old woman ; the old woman will give me rags to cure 
my head." The forest answered : " If you will bring me a 
little water, I will give you some wood." The cock went 
away to a fountain. " Fountain, give me water ; water I 
will carry to the forest ; forest will give wood ; wood I will 
carry to the baker ; baker will give bread ; bread I will 
give dog ; dog will give hairs ; hairs I will give old woman ; 
old woman will give rags to cure my head." The fountain 
gave him water ; the water he carried to the forest ; the 
forest gave him wood ; the wood he carried to the baker ; 
the baker gave him bread ; the bread he gave to the dog ; 
the dog gave him the hairs ; the hairs he carried to the old 
woman ; the old woman gave him the rags ; and the cock 
cured his head. 12 

There are other versions from Florence {Nov. fior. p. 
551), Bologna (Coronedi-Berti, X. p. 16), and Venice (Ber- 
noni, Punt. III. p. 74), which do not call for any detailed 
notice. In the Florentine version a cock gives a peck at a 
mouse's head and the mouse cries out : " Where must I go 
to be cured ?" Then follow the various objects which are 
almost identical with those in the other versions. The 
mouse, however, is killed by the ox, to which he goes last. 
The Venetian version is the most elaborate ; in it the cock 
and mouse go nutting together, and while the former flies 
up into the tree and throws the nuts down, the mouse eats 
them all up. When the cock comes down he flies into a 
passion and gives the mouse a peck at his head. The 
mouse runs off in terror, and the rest of the story is as 
above until the end. The last person the mouse calls on 
is a cooper, to make him a bucket to give to the well, to get 
water, etc. The cooper asks for money, which the mouse 
finds after a while. He gives the money to the cooper and 
says : " Take and count it ; meanwhile I am going to drink, 
for I am dying of thirst." As he is going to drink he sees 
Friend Cock coming along. " Ah, poor me," says he to him- 



254 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

self, " I am a dead mouse ! " The cock sees him and goes 
to meet him and says : " Good day, friend, are you still 
afraid of me ? Come, let us make peace ! " The mouse 
then takes heart and says : " Oh, yes, yes ! let us make 
peace ! " 

So they made peace, and Friend Mouse said to Friend 
Cock : " Now that you are here you must do me the favor 
to hold me by the tail while I hang over the ditch to drink, 
and when I say slapo, slapo, pull me back." The cock 
said : " I will do as you wish." 

Then the mouse went to the ditch and Friend Cock held 
him by the tail. After the mouse had drunk his fill, he 
said : " Friend, slapo, slapo ! " The cock answered : " Friend, 
and I let you go by the tail ! " And in truth he did let go 
his tail, and the poor mouse went to the bottom and was 
never seen or heard of more. 13 

The following story from Sicily (Pitre, No. 132) belongs 
also to a class of tales very popular and having only animals 
for its actors. It is called : 



LXXXI. GODMOTHER FOX* 

Once upon a time there was Godmother Fox and God- 
mother Goat.f The former had a little bit of a house 
adorned with little chairs, cups, and dishes ; in short, it was 
well furnished. One day Godmother Goat went out and 
carried away the little house. Godmother Fox began to 
lament, when along came a dog, barking, that said to her : 
" What are you crying about ? " She answered : " God- 
mother Goat has carried off my house ! " " Be quiet. I will 
make her give it back to you." So the dog went and said 
to Godmother Goat : " Give the house back to Godmother 
Fox." The goat answered : " I am Godmother Goat. I 
have a sword at my side, and with my horns I will tear you 
in pieces." When the dog heard that, he went away. 

Then a sheep passed by and said to the little fox : " What 

* Cummari Vurpidda (diminutive of Fox) . 
t Cummari Crapazza (diminutive of Goat). 



NURSERY TALES. 2$$ 

are you crying about ? " and she told her the same thing. 
Then the sheep went to Godmother Goat and began to re- 
prove her. The goat made the same answer she had made 
the dog, and the sheep went away in fright. 

In short, all sorts of animals went to the goat, with the 
same result. Among others the mouse went and said to 
the little fox: "What are you crying about?" "God- 
mother Goat has carried off my house." "Be still. I will 
make her give it back to you." So the mouse went and 
said to Godmother Goat : " Give Godmother Fox her house 
back right away." The goat answered : " I am Godmother 
Goat. I have a sword at my side, and with my fist and 
with my horns I will smash you ! " The mouse answered 
at once : " I am Godfather Mouse. By my side I have a 
spit. I will heat it in the fire and stick it in your tail." 

The inference of course is that Godmother Goat gave 
back the house. The story does not say so, but ends with 
the usual formula : 

Story told, story written, 

Tell me yours, for mine is said. 

Pitre (No. 133) gives another version in which a goat gets 
under a nun's bed and she calls on her neighbors, a dog, 
pig, and cricket, to put the goat out. The cricket alone 
succeeds, with a threat similar to that in the last story. 

In the Neapolitan version (Imbriani, Dodici Conti Pomig- 
lianesi, p. 273) an old woman, in sweeping the church, found 
a piece of money and, like the sexton in the story of " The 
Sexton's Nose," did not know what to buy with it. At 
last she bought some flour and made a hasty-pudding of it. 
She left it on the table and went again to church, but for- 
got to close the window. While she was gone a herd of 
goats came along, and one smelled the pudding, climbed in 
at the window, and ate it up. When the old woman came 
back and tried to open the door, she could not, for the goat 
was behind it. Then she began to weep and various ani- 
mals came along and tried to enter the house. The goat 
answered them all : "I am the goat, with three horns on 



256 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

my head and three in my belly, and if you don't run away 
I will eat you up." The mouse at last replied : " I am 
Godfather Mouse, with the halter, and if you don't run 
away, I will tear your eyes out." The goat ran away and 
the old woman went in with Godfather Mouse, whom she 
married, and they both lived there together. 

The Florentine version {Nov.fior. p. 556) is called "The 
Iron Goat." In it a widow goes out to wash and leaves 
her son at home, with orders not to leave the door open so 
that the Iron Goat, with the iron mouth and the sword 
tongue, can enter. The boy after a time wanted to go after 
his mother, and when he had gone half way he remembered 
that he had left the door open and went back. When he 
was going to enter he saw there the Iron Goat. " Who is 
there ? " " It is I ; I am the Iron Goat, with the iron mouth 
and the sword tongue. If you enter I will slice you like a 
turnip." The poor boy sat down on the steps and wept. A 
little old woman passed by and asked the cause of his tears ; 
he told her and she said she would send the goat away for 
three bushels of grain. The old woman tried, with the 
usual result, and finally said to the boy : " Listen, my child. 
I don't care for those three bushels of grain ; but I really 
cannot send the goat away." Then an old man tried his 
luck, with no better success. At last a little bird came by 
and promised for three bushels of millet to drive the goat 
away. When the goat made its usual declaration, the little 
bird replied : " And I with my beak will peck your brains 
out." The goat was frightened and ran away, and the boy 
had to pay the little bird three bushels of millet. 14 

The next story affords, like " Pitidda," a curious example 
of the diffusion of nursery tales. 

Our readers will remember the Grimm story of "The 
Spider and the Flea." "A spider and a flea dwelt together 
in one house and brewed their beer in an egg-shell. One 
day, when the spider was stirring it up, she fell in and 
scalded herself. Thereupon the flea began to scream. 
And then the door asked : " Why are you screaming, 
flea ? " " Because Little Spider has scalded herself in the 



NURSERY TALES. 2$? 

beer-tub," replied she. Thereupon the door began to 
creak as if it were in pain, and a broom, which stood in the 
corner, asked : " What are you creaking for, door ? " 
" May I not creak ? " it replied. 

" The little spider scalded herself, 
And the flea weeps." 

So a broom sweeps, a little cart runs, ashes burn furi- 
ously, a tree shakes off its leaves, a maiden breaks her 
pitcher, and a streamlet begins to flow until it swallows 
up the little girl, the little tree, the ashes, the cart, the 
broom, the door, the flea, and, last of all, the spider, all 
together. 15 

The first Italian version of this story which we shall 
mention is from Sicily (Pitre, No. 134), and is called : 

LXXXII. THE CAT AND THE MOUSE. 

Once upon a time there was a cat that wanted to get 
married. So she stood on a corner, and every one who 
passed by said : " Little Cat, what 's the matter ? " " What 's 
the matter ? I want to marry." A dog passed by and 
said : " Do you want me ? " " When I see how you can 
sing." The dog said : " Bow, wow ! " " Fy ! What hor- 
rid singing ! I don't want you." A pig passed. " Do 
you want me, Little Cat ? " " When I see how you sing." 
u Uh ! uh ! " " Fy ! You are horrid ! Go away ! I don't 
want you." A calf passed and said : " Little Cat, will you 
take me ? " " When I see how you sing." " Uhm ! " " Go 
away, for you are horrid ! What do you want of me ? " A 
mouse passed by : " Little Cat, what are you doing ? " " I 
am going to get married." "Will you take me ? " "And 
how can you sing ? " " Ziu, ziu ! " The cat accepted him, 
and said : " Let us go and be married, for you please me." 
So they were married. 

One day the cat went to buy some pastry, and left the 

mouse at home. " Don't stir out, for I am going to buy 

some pastry." The mouse went into the kitchen, saw the 

pot on the fire, and crept into it, for he wanted to eat the 

17 



258 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

beans. But he did not ; for the pot began to boil, and the 
mouse stayed there. The cat came back and began to 
cry ; but the mouse did not appear. So the cat put the 
pastry in the pot for dinner. When it was ready the cat 
ate, and put some on a plate for the mouse, also. When 
she took out the pastry she saw the mouse stuck fast in it. 
" Ah ! my little mouse ! ah ! my little mouse ! " so she went 
and sat behind the door, lamenting the mouse. 

" What is the matter," said the door, " that you are 
scratching yourself so and tearing out your hair ? " 

The cat said : " What is the matter ? My mouse is dead, 
and so I tear my hair." 

The door answered : " And I, as door, will slam." 

In the door was a window, which said : " What 's the 
matter, door, that you are slamming ? " 

" The mouse died, the cat is tearing her hair, and I am 
slamming." 

The window answered : " And I, as window, will open 
and shut." 

In the window was a tree, that said : " Window, why do 
you open and shut ? " The window answered : " The 
mouse died, the cat tears her hair, the door slams, and I 
open and shut." The tree answered and said: "And I, 
as tree, will throw myself down." 

A bird happened to alight in this tree, and said: "Tree, 
why did you throw yourself down ? " The tree replied : 
"The mouse died, the cat tears her hair, the door slams, 
the window opens and shuts, and I, as tree, threw myself 
down." "And I, as bird, will pull out my feathers." The 
bird went and alighted on a fountain, which said : " Bird, 
why are you plucking out your feathers so ? " The bird 
answered as the others had done, and the fountain said: 
"And I, as fountain, will dry up." A cuckoo went to drink 
at the fountain, and asked : " Fountain, why have you dried 
up?" And the fountain told him all that had happened. 
" And I, as cuckoo, will put my tail in the fire." A monk 
of St. Nicholas passed by, and said : " Cuckoo, why is your 
tail in the fire ? " When the monk heard the answer he 



NURSERY TALES. 259 

said : " And I, as monk of St. Nicholas, will go and say 
mass without my robes." Then came the queen, who, 
when she heard what the matter was, said : " And I, as 
queen, will go and sift the meal." At last the king came 
by, and asked : " O Queen ! why are you sifting the meal ? " 
When the queen had told him everything, he said : " And 
I, as king, am going to take my coffee." 

And thus the story abruptly ends. In one of Pitre's 
variants a sausage takes the place of the mouse ; in an- 
other, a tortoise. 

In the version from Pomigliano d' Arco (Imbriani, p. 244), 
an old woman, who finds a coin in sweeping a church, hesi- 
tates in regard to what she will spend it for, as in the sto- 
ries above mentioned. She finally concludes to buy some 
paint for her face. After she has put it on, she stations 
herself at the window. A donkey passes, and asks what 
she wants. She answers that she wishes to marry. " Will 
you take me ? " asks the donkey. " Let me hear what kind 
of a voice you have." "Ingb! Ingb ! high!" "Away! 
away ! you would frighten me in the night ! " Then a goat 
comes along, with the same result. Then follows a cat, 
and all the animals in the world ; but none pleases the old 
woman. At last a little mouse passes by, and says : " Old 
Aunt, what are you doing there ? " " I want to marry." 
" Will you take me ? " " Let me hear your voice." " Zi- 
vuzl ! zivuzl ! zivuzl ! zivuzi ! " " Come up, for you please 
me." So the mouse went up to the old woman, and stayed 
with her. One day the old woman went to mass, and left 
the pot near the fire and told the mouse to be careful not 
to fall in it. When she came home she could not find the 
mouse anywhere. At last she went to take the soup from 
the pot, and there she found the mouse dead. She began 
to lament, and the ashes on the hearth began to scatter, 
and the window asked what was the matter. The ashes 
answered : " Ah ! you know nothing. Friend Mouse is in 
the pot ; the old woman is weeping, weeping ; and I, the 
ashes, have wished to scatter." Then the window opens 



260 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

and shuts, the stairs fall down, the bird plucks out its feath- 
ers, the laurel shakes off its leaves, the servant girl who 
goes to the well breaks her pitcher, the mistress who was 
making bread throws the flour over the balcony, and finally 
the master comes home, and after he hears the story, ex- 
claims : " And I, who am master, will break the bones of 
both of you ! " And therewith he takes a stick and gives 
the servant and her mistress a sound beating. 16 

There is a curious class of versions of the above story, in 
which the principal actors are a mouse and a sausage, re- 
minding one of the Grimm story of " The Little Mouse, 
the Little Bird, and the Sausage." In the Venetian version 
(Bernoni, Punt. III. p. 81), the beginning is as follows: 
Once upon a time there was a mouse and a sausage, and 
one day the mouse said to the sausage : " I am going to 
mass ; meanwhile get ready the dinner." " Yes, yes," an- 
swered the sausage. Then the mouse went to mass, and 
when he returned he found everything ready. The next 
day the sausage went to mass and the mouse prepared the 
dinner. He put on the pot, threw in the rice, and then 
went to taste if it was well salted. But he fell in and died. 
The sausage returned home, knocked at the door, — for 
there was no bell, — and no one answered. She called : 
" Mouse ! mouse ! " But he does not answer. Then the 
sausage went to a smith and had the door broken in, and 
called again : " Mouse, where are you ? " And the mouse 
did not answer. " Now I will pour out the rice, and mean- 
while he will come." So she went and poured out the rice, 
and found the mouse dead in the pot. " Ah ! poor mouse ! 
Oh ! my mouse ! What shall I do now ? Oh ! poor me ! " 
And she began to utter a loud lamentation. Then the 
table began to go around the room, the sideboard to throw 
down the plates, the door to lock and unlock itself, the 
fountain to dry up, the mistress to drag herself along the 
ground, and the master threw himself from the balcony and 
broke his neck. " And all this arose from the death of this 
mouse." 

The version from the Marches (Gianandrea, p. n) resem- 



NURSERY TALES. 26l 

bles the above very closely ; the conclusion is as follows : 
" The mouse, the master of this castle, is dead ; the sau- 
sage weeps, the broom sweeps, the door opens and shuts, 
the cart runs, the tree throws off its leaves, the bird plucks 
out its feathers, the servant breaks her pitcher," etc. 

The version from Milan {Nov. fior. p. 552) resembles the 
one from Venice. Instead of the mouse and the sausage 
we have the big mouse and the little mouse. In the ver- 
sion from Leghorn (Papanti, p. 19) called "Vezzino and 
Lady Sausage," * the actors are Lady Sausage and her son 
Vezzino, who falls into the pot on the fire while his mother 
is at mass. The rest of the story does not differ materially 
from the above versions. 

In the Grimm story of the " Golden Goose," the goose 
has the power of causing anything that touches it to stick 
fast. This same idea is reproduced in several Italian 
stories. The best is from Venice (Bernoni, Fiabe, p. 21) 
and is called : 

LXXXIII. A FEAST DAY. 

Once upon a time there was a husband and wife ; the 
husband was a boatman. One feast day the boatman took 
it into his head to buy a fowl, which he carried home and 
said : " See here, wife, to-day is a feast day ; I want a good 
dinner ; cook it well, for my friend Tony is coming to dine 
with us and has said that he would bring a tart." " Very 
well," she said, " I will prepare the fowl at once." So she 
cleaned it, washed it, put it on the fire, and said : " While 
it is boiling I will go and hear a mass." She shut the 
kitchen door and left the dog and the cat inside. Scarcely 
had she closed the door when the dog went to the hearth 
and perceived that there was a good odor there and said : 
" Oh, what a good smell ! " He called the cat, also, and 
said : " Cat, you come here, too ; smell what a good odor 
there is ! see if you can push off the cover with your paws." 
The cat went and scratched and scratched and down went 

* Vezzino e Madonna Salciccia. Vezzino is the dim. of vezzo, delight, pas- 
time. 



262 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the cover. "Now," said the dog, "see if you can catch it 
with your claws." Then the cat seized the fowl and dragged 
it to the middle of the kitchen. The dog said : " Shall we 
eat half of it ? " The cat said : " Let us eat it all." So 
they ate it all and stuffed themselves like pigs. When they 
had eaten it they said : " Alas for us ! What shall we do 
when the mistress comes home ? She will surely beat us 
both." So they both ran all over the house, here and there, 
but could find no place in which to hide. They were going to 
hide under the bed. " No," they said, " for she will see us." 
They were going under the sofa ; but that would not do, 
for she would see them there. Finally the cat looked up 
and saw under the beams a cobweb. He gave a leap and 
jumped into it. The dog looked at him and said : " Run 
away ! you are mad ! you can be seen, for your tail sticks 
out ! come down, come down ! " "I cannot, I cannot, for I 
am stuck fast ! " " Wait, I will come and pull you out." He 
gave a spring to catch him by the tail and pull him down. 
Instead of that he, too, stuck fast to the cat's tail. He 
made every effort to loosen himself, but he could not and 
there he had to stay. 

Meanwhile the mistress does not wait until the priest 
finishes the mass, but runs quickly home. She runs and 
opens the door and is going to skim the pot, when she dis- 
covers that the fowl is no longer there, and in the middle 
of the kitchen she sees the bones all gnawed. " Ah, poor 
me ! the cat and the dog have eaten the fowl. Now I will 
give them both a beating." So she takes a stick and then 
goes to find them. She looks here, she looks there, but 
does not find them anywhere. In despair she comes back 
to the kitchen, but does not find them there. " Where the 
deuce have they hidden ? " Just then she raises her eyes 
and sees them both stuck fast under the beams. " Ah, are 
you there ? now just wait ! " and she climbs on a table and 
is going to pull them down, when she sticks fast to the 
dog's tail. She tries to free herself, but cannot. 

Her husband knocked at the door. " Here, open ! " "I 
cannot, I am fast." " Loosen yourself and open the door ! 



NURSERY TALES. 263 

where the deuce are you fastened ? " " I cannot, I tell 
you." "Open! it is noon." "I cannot, for I am fast." 
"But where are you fast?" "To the dog's tail." "I will 
give you the dog's tail, you silly woman ! " He gave the 
door two or three kicks, broke it in, went into the kitchen, 
and saw cat, dog, and mistress all fast. " Ah, you are all 
fast, are you? just wait, I will loosen you." He went to 
loosen them, but stuck fast himself. Friend Tony comes 
and knocks. " Friend ? Open ! I have the tart here." " I 
cannot ; my friend, I am fast ! " " Bad luck to you ! Are you 
fast at this time ? You knew I was coming and got fast ? 
Come, loosen yourself and open the door ! " He said again : 
" I cannot come and open, for I am fast." Finally the friend 
became angry, kicked in the door, went into the kitchen, 
and saw all those souls stuck fast and laughed heartily. 
"Just wait, for I will loosen you now." So he gave a great 
pull, the cat's tail was loosened, the cat fell into the dog's 
mouth, the dog into his mistress' mouth, the mistress into 
her husband's, her husband into his friend's, and his friend 
into the mouth of the blockheads who are listening to me. 17 

The following nonsense story from Venice (Bernoni, 
Punt. I. p. 18) will give a good idea of a class that is not 
very well represented in Italy. It is called : 

LXXXIV. THE THREE BROTHERS. 

Once upon a time there were three brothers : two had no 
clothes and one no shirt. The weather was very bad and 
they make up their minds to go shooting. So they took 
down three guns, — two were broken and one had no bar- 
rel, — and walked and walked until they came at last to a 
meadow, where they saw a hare. They began to fire at it, 
but could not catch it. " What shall we do ? " said one of 
them. They remembered that near by a godmother of 
theirs lived ; so they went and knocked at her door and 
asked her to lend them a pot to cook the hare they had not 
caught. The godmother was not at home, but nevertheless 



264 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

she answered : " My children, go in the kitchen and there 
you will find three pots, two broken and one with no bot- 
tom ; take whichever you wish." " Thanks, Godmother ! " 
They went into the kitchen and chose the one without a 
bottom and put the hare in it to cook. While the hare was 
cooking, one said : " Let us ask our godmother whether she 
has anything in her garden." So they asked her and she 
said : " Yes, yes, my children, I have three walnut-trees ; 
two are dead and one has never borne any nuts ; knock off 
as many as you wish." One went and shook the tree that 
had never borne nuts, and a little nut fell on his hat and 
broke his heel. Thereupon they picked up the nuts and 
went to get the hare, which meanwhile was cooked, and 
said : " What shall we do with so much stuff ? " So they 
went to a village where there were many ill, and they put 
up a notice in the street that whoever wished might, at such 
and such a place, get broth given him in charity. Every 
one went to get some, and they took it in the salad-basket, 
and it was given to them with a skimmer. One who did 
not belong to the village, drank so much of this broth that 
he was at the point of death. Then they sent for three 
physicians : one was blind, one deaf, and one dumb. The 
blind man went in and said : " Let me look at your tongue." 
The deaf man asked : " How are you ? " The dumb said : 
" Give me some paper, pen and ink." They gave them to 
him and he said : 

" Go to the apothecary, 
For he knows the business ; 
Buy two cents' worth of I know not what, 
Put it wherever you wish. 
He will get well I know not when, 
I will leave and commend him to you." 18 

One of the most popular of Italian tales, as the collector 
tells us, is one of which we give the version from Leghorn 
(Papanti, p. 25). It is called : 



NURSERY TALES. 26$ 

LXXXV. BUCHETTINO. 

Once upon a time there was a child whose name was 
Buchettino. One morning his mamma called him and said : 
" Buchettino, will you do me a favor ? Go and sweep the 
stairs." Buchettino, who was very obedient, did not wait 
to be told a second time, but went at once to sweep the 
stairs. All at once he heard a noise, and after looking all 
around, he found a penny. Then he said to himself : 
" What shall I do with this penny ? I have half a mind to 
buy some dates . . . but no ! for I should have to throw 
away the stones. I will buy some apples ... no ! I will 
not, for I should have to throw away the core. I will buy 
some nuts . . . but no, for I should have to throw away 
the shells ! What shall I buy, then ? I will buy — I will 
buy — enough; I will buy a pennyworth of figs." No 
sooner said than done : he bought a pennyworth of figs, and 
went to eat them in a tree. While he was eating, the ogre 
passed by, and seeing Buchettino eating figs in the tree, 
said : 

" Buchettino, 

My dear Buchettino, 

Give me a little fig 

With your dear little hand, 

If not I will eat you ! " 

Buchettino threw him one, but it fell in the dirt. Then the 
ogre repeated : 

" Buchettino, 

My dear Buchettino, 

Give me a little fig 

With your dear little hand, 

If not I will eat you ! " 

Then Buchettino threw him another, which also fell in the 
dirt. The ogre said again : 

" Buchettino, 
My dear Buchettino, 
Give me a little fig 
With your dear little hand, 
If not I will eat you ! " 



266 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

Poor Buchettino, who did not see the trick, and did not 
know that the ogre was doing everything to get him into 
his net and eat him up, what does he do ? he leans down 
and foolishly gives him a fig with his little hand. The 
ogre, who wanted nothing better, suddenly seized him by 
the arm and put him in his bag ; then he took him on his 
back and started for home, crying with all his lungs : 

" Wife, my wife, 
Put the kettle on the fire, 
For I have caught Buchettino ! 
Wife, my wife, 
Put the kettle on the fire, 
For I have caught Buchettino ! " 

When the ogre was near his house he put the bag on the 
ground, and went off to attend to something else. Buchet- 
tino, with a knife that he had in his pocket, cut the bag 
open in a trice, filled it with large stones, and then : 

" My legs, it is no shame 
To run away when there is need." 

When the rascal of an ogre returned he picked up the bag, 
and scarcely had he arrived home when he said to his wife : 
"Tell me, my wife, have you put the kettle on the fire?" 
She answered at once: "Yes." "Then," said the ogre, 
" we will cook Buchettino ; come here, help me ! " And 
both taking the bag, they carried it to the hearth and were 
going to throw poor Buchettino into the kettle, but instead 
they found only the stones. Imagine how cheated the 
ogre was. He was so angry that he bit his hands. He 
could not swallow the trick played on him by Buchettino 
and swore to find him again and be revenged. So the next 
day he began to go all about the city and to look into all 
the hiding places. At last he happened to raise his eyes 
and saw Buchettino on a roof, ridiculing him and laughing 
so hard that his mouth extended from ear to ear. The 
ogre thought he should burst with rage, but he pretended 
not to see it and in a very sweet tone he said : " O Bu- 
chettino ; just tell me, how did you manage to climb up 



NURSERY TALES. 267 

there ? " Buchettino answered : " Do you really want to 
know ? Then listen. I put dishes upon dishes, glasses 
upon glasses, pans upon pans, kettles upon kettles ; after- 
wards I climbed up on them and here I am." "Ah! is 
that so?" said the ogre; "wait a bit!" And quickly he 
took so many dishes, so many glasses, pans, kettles, and 
made a great mountain of them ; then he began to climb 
up, to go and catch Buchettino. But when he was on the 
top — brututum — everything fell down ; and that rascal of 
an ogre fell down on the stones and was cheated again. 

Then Buchettino, well pleased, ran to his mamma, who 
put a piece of candy in his little mouth — See whether 
there is any more ! 19 

We will end this chapter with two stories in which the 
chief actors are animals. One of these stories will doubt- 
less be very familiar to our readers. The first is from 
Venice (Bernoni, Punt. III. p. 65). 

LXXXVI. THE THREE GOSLINGS. 

Once upon a time there were three goslings who were 
greatly afraid of the wolf ; for if he found them he would eat 
them. One day the largest said to the other two : " Do 
you know what I think ? I think we had better build a 
little house, so that the wolf shall not eat us, and meanwhile 
let us go and look for something to build the house with." 
Then the other two said: "Yes, yes, yes . . . good! let 
us go ! " So they went and found a man who had a load of 
straw and said to him : " Good man, do us the favor to give 
us a little of that straw to make a house of, so that the wolf 
shall not eat us." The man said: "Take it, take it!" and 
he gave them as much as they wanted. The goslings 
thanked the man and took the straw and went away to a 
meadow, and there they built a lovely little house, with a 
door, and balconies, and kitchen, with everything, in short. 
When it was finished the largest gosling said : " Now I 
want to see whether one is comfortable in this house." So 



268 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

she went in and said : " Oh ! how comfortable it is in this 
house ! just wait ! " She went and locked the door with a 
padlock, and went out on the balcony and said to the other 
two goslings : " I am very comfortable alone here ; go away, 
for I want nothing to do with you." 

The two poor little goslings began to cry and beg their 
sister to open the door and let them in ; if she did not, the 
wolf would eat them. But she would not listen to them. 
Then the two goslings went away and found a man who had 
a load of hay. They said to him : " Good man, do us the 
kindness to give us a little of that hay to build a house with, 
so that the wolf shall not eat us ! " " Yes, yes, yes, take some, 
take some ! " And he gave them as much as they wanted. 
The goslings, well pleased, thanked the man and carried 
the hay to a meadow and built a very pretty little house, 
prettier than the other. The middle-sized gosling said to 
the smallest : " Listen. I am going now to see whether one 
is comfortable in this house ; but I will not act like our sis- 
ter, you know ! " She entered the house and said to her- 
self : " Oh ! how comfortable it is here ! I don't want my 
sister ! I am very comfortable here alone." So she went 
and fastened the door with a padlock, and went out on the 
balcony and said to her sister : " Oh ! how comfortable it is 
in this house ! I don't want you here ! go away, go away ! " 
The poor gosling began to weep and beg her sister to open 
to her, for she was alone, and did not know where to go, 
and if the wolf found her he would eat her ; but it did no 
good : she shut the balcony and stayed in the house. 

Then the gosling, full of fear, went away and found a 
man who had a load of iron and stones and said to him : 
" Good man, do me the favor to give me a few of those 
stones and a little of that iron to build me a house with, so 
that the wolf shall not eat me ! " The man pitied the gos- 
ling so much that he said : " Yes, yes, good gosling, or 
rather I will build your house for you." Then they went 
away to a meadow, and the man built a very pretty house, 
with a garden and everything necessary, and very strong, 
for it was lined with iron, and the balcony and door of iron 



NURSERY TALES. 269 

also. The gosling, well pleased, thanked the man and went 
into the house and remained there. 

Now let us go to the wolf. 

The wolf looked everywhere for these goslings, but could 
not find them. After a time he learned that they-had built 
three houses. "Good, good !" he said ; "wait until I find 
you ! " Then he started out and journeyed and journeyed 
until he came to the meadow where the first house was. 
He knocked at the door and the gosling said : " Who is 
knocking at the door ? " " Come, come," said the wolf ; 
"open, for it is I." The gosling said : "I will not open for 
you, because you will eat me." "Open, open! I will not 
eat you, be not afraid. Very well," said the wolf, " if you 
will not open the door I will blow down your house." And 
indeed he did blow down the house and ate up the gosling. 
"Now that I have eaten one," he said, "I will eat the 
others too." Then he went away and came at last to the 
house of the second gosling, and everything happened as to 
the first, the wolf blew down the house and ate the gosling. 
Then he went in search of the third and when he found her 
he knocked at the door, but she would not let him in. Then 
he tried to blow the house down, but could not ; then he 
climbed on the roof and tried to trample the house down, 
but in vain. " Very well," he said to himself, " in one way 
or another I will eat you." Then he came down from the 
roof and said to the gosling : " Listen, gosling. Do you wish 
us to make peace ? I don't want to quarrel with you who 
are so good, and I have thought that to-morrow we will 
cook some macaroni and I will bring the butter and cheese 
and you will furnish the flour." "Very good," said the 
gosling, "bring them then." The wolf, well satisfied, sa- 
luted the gosling and went away. The next day the gosling 
got up early and went and bought the meal and then re- 
turned home and shut the house. A little later the wolf 
came and knocked at the door and said : " Come, gosling, 
open the door, for I have brought you the butter and 
cheese ! " " Very well, give it to me here by the balcony." 
" No indeed, open the door ! " "I will open when all is 



27O ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

ready." Then the wolf gave her the things by the balcony 
and went away. While he was gone the gosling prepared 
the macaroni, and put it on the fire to cook in a kettle full 
of water. When it was two o'clock the wolf came and said : 
"Come, gosling, open the door." " No, I will not open, for 
when I am busy I don't want any one in the way ; when it 
is cooked, I will open and you may come in and eat it." A 
little while after, the gosling said to the wolf : " Would you 
like to try a bit of macaroni to see whether it is well 
cooked ? " " Open the door ! that is the better way." " No, 
no ; don't think you are coming in ; put your mouth to the 
hole in the shelf and I will pour the macaroni down." The 
wolf, all greedy as he was, put his mouth to the hole and 
then the gosling took the kettle of boiling water and poured 
the boiling water instead of the macaroni through the hole 
into the wolf's mouth ; and the wolf was scalded and 
killed. Then the gosling took a knife and cut open the 
wolf's stomach, and out jumped the other goslings, who 
were still alive, for the wolf was so greedy that he had swal- 
lowed them whole. Then these goslings begged their sis- 
ter's pardon for the mean way in which they had treated 
her, and she, because she was kind-hearted, forgave them 
and took them into her house, and there they ate their maca- 
roni and lived together happy and contented. 20 

A curious variant of the above story is found in the same 
collection (p. 69) under the title : 

LXXXVII. THE COCK. 

Once upon a time there was a cock, and this cock flew 
here and flew there, and flew on an arbor, and there he 
found a letter. He opened the letter and saw : " Cock, 

steward," and that he was invited to Rome by the 

Pope. 

The cock started on his journey, and after a time met 
the hen : " Where are you going, Friend Cock ? " said the 
hen. "I flew," said he, "upon an arbor and found a letter, 



NURSERY TALES. 2JI 

and this letter said that I was invited to Rome by the Pope." 
"Just see, friend," said the hen, "whether I am there too." 
" Wait a bit." Then he turned the letter, and saw written 
there: " Cock, steward ; Hen, stewardess." " Come, friend, 
for you are there too." "Very well ! " 

Then the two started off, and soon met the goose, who 
said : " Where are you going, Friend Cock and Friend 
Hen ? " " I flew," said the cock, " upon an arbor, and I 
found a letter, and this letter said that we were invited to 
Rome by the Pope." "Just look, friend, whether I am there 
too." Then the cock opened the letter, read it, and saw 
that there was written : " Cock, steward ; Hen, stewardess ; 
Goose, abbess." " Come, come, friend ; you are there too." 
So they took her along, and all three went their way. 

[After a time they found the duck, and the cock saw 
written in the letter : " Cock, steward ; Hen, stewardess ; 
Goose, abbess ; Duck, countess." They next met a little 
bird, and found he was down in the letter as "little man- 
servant." Finally they came across the wood-louse, whom 
they found mentioned in the letter as " maid-servant." On 
their journey they came to a forest, and saw a wolf at a dis- 
tance. The cock, hen, goose, and duck plucked out their 
feathers and built houses to shelter themselves from the 
wolf. The poor bug, that had no feathers, dug a hole in 
the ground and crept into it. The wolf came, and as in 
the last story, blew down the four houses and devoured 
their occupants. Then he tried to get at the bug in the 
same way ; but blew so hard that he burst, and out came 
the cock, hen, goose, and duck, safe and sound, and began 
to make a great noise. The bug heard it and came out of 
her hole, and after they had rejoiced together, they sepa- 
rated and each returned home and thought no more of go- 
ing to Rome to the Pope.] ' 

There is a version from the Marches (Gianandrea, p. 21), 
called, "The Marriage of Thirteen." The animals are the 
same as in the last story. On their journey they meet the 
wolf, who accompanies them, although his name is not in 



272 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the letter. After a time the wolf becomes hungry, and ex- 
claims : " I am hungry." The cock answers : " I have 
nothing to give you." "Very well ; then I will eat you;" 
and he swallows him whole. And so he devours one after 
the other, until the bird only remains. The bird flies from 
tree to tree and bush to bush, and around the wolf's head, 
until he drives him wild with anger. At last along comes 
a woman with a basket on her head, carrying food to the 
reapers. The bird says to the wolf that if he will spare his 
life he will get him something to eat from the basket. The 
wolf promises, and the bird alights near the woman, who 
tries to catch him ; the bird flies on a little way, and the 
woman puts down her basket and runs after him. Mean- 
while the wolf draws near the basket and begins eating its 
contents. When the woman sees that, she cries : "Help!" 
and the reapers run up with sticks and scythes, and kill the 
wolf, and the animals that he had devoured all came out of 
his stomach, safe and sound. 21 

There are two Sicilian versions of the story of " The 
Cock." One (Pitre, No. 279), " The Wolf and the Finch," 
opens like the Venetian. The animals are : Cock, king ; 
Hen, queen ; Viper, chambermaid ; Wolf, Pope ; and 
Finch, keeper of the castle. The wolf then proceeds to 
confess the others, and eats them in turn until he comes to 
the finch, which plays a joke on him and flies away. The 
conclusion of the story is disfigured, nothing being said of 
the wolf's punishment or the recovery of the other ani- 
mals. 

The other Sicilian version is in Gonzenbach (No. 66). 
We give it, however, for completeness and because it re- 
calls a familiar story in Grimm. 22 It is entitled : 



LXXXVIII. THE COCK THAT WISHED TO BECOME 

POPE. 

It occurred once to the cock to go to Rome and have 
himself elected Pope. So he started out, and on the way 
found a letter, which he took with him. The hen met 



NURSERY TALES. 2?$ 

him, and asked : " Mr. Cock, where are you going ? " " I 
am going to Rome, to be Pope." " Will you take me with 
you ?" she asked. "First I must look in my letter," said 
the cock, and looked at his letter. " Come along; if I be- 
come Pope, you can be the Popess." So Mr. Cock and 
Mrs. Hen continued their journey and met a cat, who said : 
" Mr. Cock and Mrs. Hen, where are you going ? " " We 
are going to Rome, and wish to be Pope and Popess." 
" Will you take me with you ? " " Wait until I look in my 
letter," said the cock, and glanced at it. "Very well; 
come along ; you can be our lady's-maid." After a while 
they met a weasel, who asked : " Where are you going, 
Mr. Cock, Mrs. Hen, and Mrs. Cat ? " " We are going to 
Rome, where I intend to become Pope," answered the cock 
" Will you take me with you ? " " Wait until I look in my 
letter," said he. When the cock looked in his letter, he 
said : "Very well ; come along." 

So the three animals continued their journey together 
towards Rome. At night-fall they came to a little house 
where lived an old witch, who had just gone out. So each 
animal chose a place to suit him. The weasel sat himself 
in the cupboard, the cat on the hearth in the warm ashes, 
and the cock and the hen flew up on the beam over the 
door. 

When the old witch came home she wanted to get a light 
out of the cupboard, and the weasel struck her in the face 
with his tail. Then she wanted to light the candle, and 
went to the hearth. She took the bright eyes of the cat 
for live coals and tried to light the match by them, and hit 
the cat in the eyes. The cat jumped in her face and 
scratched her frightfully. When the cock heard all the 
noise he began to crow loudly. Then the witch saw that 
they were no ghosts, but harmless domestic animals, and 
took a stick and drove all four out of the house. 

The cat and the weasel had no longer any desire to pro- 
long their journey ; but the cock and hen continued their 
way. 

When they reached Rome they entered an open church, 

18 



274 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

and the cock said to the sexton : " Have all the bells rung, 
for now I will be Pope." " Good ! " answered the sexton ; 
"that may be, but just come in here." Then he led the 
cock and the hen into the sacristry, shut the door, and 
caught them both. After he had caught them he twisted 
their necks and put them in the pot. Then he invited 
his friends, and they ate with great glee Mr. Cock and Mrs. 
Hen. 






CHAPTER VI. 

STORIES AND JESTS. 

Until the Reformation, Europe was, by its religion and 
the culture growing out of it, a homogeneous state. Not 
only, however, did the legends of the Church find access to 
the people everywhere, but the stories imported from the 
Orient were equally popular and widespread. The absence 
of other works of entertainment and the monotonous char- 
acter of the legends increased the popularity of tales which 
were amusing and interesting. We have considered in 
other places the fairy tales and those stories which are of 
more direct Oriental origin. In the present chapter we 
shall examine those stories which are of the character of 
jests or amusing stories, some of which are also Oriental, 
but may more appropriately be classed in this chapter. The 
first story we shall mention is familiar to the reader from 
the ballad of " King John and the Abbot of Canterbury," 
in Percy and Burger's poem of Der Kaiser und der Abt. 
There are two popular versions in Italian, as well as several 
literary ones. The shortest is from Milan (Imbriani, Nov. 
fior. p. 621), and is entitled : 

XCI. THE COOK. 

There was once a lord whose name was " Abbot-who- 
eats-and-drinks-without-thinking." The king went there 
and saw this name on the door, and said that if he had 
nothing to think of, he would give him something to think 
of. He told him that he must do in a week the three things 
which he told him. First, to tell him how many stars there 
were in heaven, how many fathoms of rope it would take 
to reach to heaven, and what he, the king, was thinking of. 



276 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

The cook saw that his master was sad, and sat with his head 
bent over the table, and asked him what was the matter, 
and his master told him everything. The cook promised 
to settle the matter if he would give him half of his property. 
He also asked for the skin of a dead ass, a cart-load of rope, 
and his master's hat and cloak. Then the cook went to the 
king, who said to him : " Well, how many stars are there in 
heaven ? " The cook answered : " Whoever counts the 
hairs on this ass' skin will know how many stars there are 
in heaven." Then the king told him to count them, and he 
answered that his share was already counted, and that it 
was for the king to count now. Then the king asked him 
how many fathoms of rope it would take to reach to heaven, 
and the cook replied : " Take this rope and go to heaven, 
and then come back and count how many fathoms there 
are." Finally the king asked : " What am I thinking of?" 
" You are thinking that I am the abbot ; instead of that, I 
am the cook, and I have here the stew-pan to try the broth." 

The version in Pitre (No. 97) is much better. It is called : 



XCII. THE THOUGHTLESS ABBOT. 

There was once in a city a priest who became an abbot, 
and who had his carriages, horses, grooms, steward, secre- 
tary, valet, and many other persons on account of the 
wealth that he had. This abbot thought only of eating, 
drinking, and sleeping. All the priests and laymen were 
jealous of him, and called him the " Thoughtless Abbot." 

One day the king happened to pass that way, and stopped, 
and all the abbot's enemies went to him straightway, and 
accused the abbot, saying : " Your Majesty, in this town 
there is a person happier than you, very rich, and lacking 
nothing in the world, and he is called the 'Thoughtless 
Abbot.' " 

After reflection the king said to the accusers : " Gentle- 
men, depart in peace, for I will soon make this abbot think." 
The king sent directly for the abbot, who had his carriage 



STORIES AND JESTS. 2'J'J 

made ready, and went to the king in his coach and four. 
The king received him kindly, made him sit at his side, and 
talked about various things with him. Finally he asked 
him why they called him the " Thoughtless Abbot," and he 
replied that it was because he was free from care, and that 
his servants attended to his interests. 

Then the king said : " Well, then, Sir Abbot, since you 
have nothing to do, do me the favor to count all the stars 
in the sky, and this within three days and three nights ; 
otherwise you will surely be beheaded." The poor 
"Thoughtless Abbot" on hearing these words began to 
tremble like a leaf, and taking leave of the king, returned 
home, in mortal fear for his neck. 

When meal-time came, he could not eat on account of his 
great anxiety, and went at once out on the terrace to look 
at the sky, but the poor man could not see a single star. 
When it grew dark, and the stars came out, the poor abbot 
began to count them and write it down. But it grew dark 
and light again, without the abbot succeeding in his task. 
The cook, the steward, the secretaries, the grooms, the 
coachmen, and all the persons in the house became thought- 
ful when they saw that their master did not eat or drink, 
and always watched the sky. Not knowing what else to 
think, they believed that he had gone mad. To make the 
matter short, the three days passed without the abbot 
counting the stars, and the poor man did not know how to 
present himself to the king, for he was sure he would behead 
him. Finally, the last day, an old and trusty servant begged 
him so long, that he told him the whole matter, and said : 
" I have not been able to count the stars, and the king will 
cut my head off this morning." When the servant had 
heard all, he said : " Do not fear, leave it to me ; I will set- 
tle everything." 

He went and bought a large ox-hide, stretched it on the 
ground, and cut off a piece of the tail, half an ear, and a 
small piece out of the side, and then said to the abbot : 
" Now let us go to the king ; and when he asks your excel- 
lency how many stars there are in heaven, your excellency 



278 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

will call me ; I will stretch the hide on the ground, and 
your excellency will say : ' The stars in heaven are as many 
as the hairs on this hide ; and as there are more hairs than 
stars, I have been obliged to cut off part of the hide.' " 

After the abbot had heard him, he felt relieved, ordered 
his carriage, and took his servant to the king. When the 
king saw the abbot, he saluted him, and then said : " Have 
you fulfilled my command?" "Yes, your Majesty," an- 
swered the abbot, " the stars are all counted." 

"Then tell me how many they are." The abbot called 
his servant, who brought the hide, and spread it on the 
ground, while the king, not knowing how the matter was 
going to end, continued his questioning. 

When the servant had stretched out the hide, the abbot 
said to the king : " Your Majesty, during these three 
days I have gone mad counting the stars, and they are 
all counted." " In short, how many are they ?" " Your 
Majesty, the stars are as many as the hairs of this hide, 
and those that were in excess, I have had to cut off, and 
they are so many hundreds of millions ; and if you don't 
believe me, have them counted, for I have brought you the 
proof." 

Then the king remained with his mouth open, and had 
nothing to answer ; he only said : " Go and live as long as 
Noah, without thoughts, for your mind is enough for you ; " 
and so speaking, he dismissed him, thanking him, and re- 
maining henceforth his best friend. 

The abbot returned home with his servant, delighted and 
rejoicing. He thanked his servant, made him his steward 
and intimate friend, and gave him more than an ounce of 
money a day to live on. 1 

In another Sicilian version referred to by Pitre, vol. IV., 
p. 437, the Pope, instead of the king, wishes to know from 
the abbot : " What is the distance from heaven to earth ; 
what God is doing in heaven ; what the Pope is thinking 
of. The cook, disguised as the abbot, answers : "As long 
as this ball of thread. Rewarding the good, and punishing 



STORIES AND JESTS. 279 

the wicked. He thinks he is speaking with the abbot, and 
on the contrary, is talking to the cook." 

The following story from Venice (Bernoni, Fiabe, No. 6) 
is a combination of the two stories in Grimm, " Clever 
Alice" and the " Clever People." It is called : 



XCIII. BASTIANELO. 

Once upon a time there was a husband and wife who had 
a son. This son grew up, and said one day to his mother : 
" Do you know, mother, I would like to marry ! " " Very 
well, marry ! whom do you want to take ? " He answered : 
"I want the gardener's daughter." "She is a good girl; 
take her ; I am willing." So he went, and asked for the girl, 
and her parents gave her to him. They were married, and 
when they were in the midst of the dinner, the wine gave 
out. The husband said : " There is no more wine ! " The 
bride, to show that she was a good housekeeper, said : " I 
will go and get some." She took the bottles and went to 
the cellar, turned the cock, and began to think : " Suppose 
I should have a son, and we should call him Bastianelo, and 
he should die. Oh ! how grieved I should be ! oh ! how 
grieved I should be ! " And thereupon she began to weep 
and weep ; and meanwhile the wine was running all over 
the cellar. 

When they saw that the bride did not return, the mother 
said : " I will go and see what the matter is." So she went 
into the cellar, and saw the bride, with the bottle in her 
hand, and weeping, while the wine was running over the 
cellar. " What is the matter with you, that you are weep- 
ing ? " " Ah ! my mother, I was thinking that if I had a 
son, and should name him Bastianelo, and he should die, 
oh ! how I should grieve ! oh ! how I should grieve ! " 
The mother, too, began to weep, and weep, and weep ; and 
meanwhile the wine was running over the cellar. 

When the people at the table saw that no one brought 
the wine, the groom's father said : " I will go and see what 
is the matter. Certainly something wrong has happened to 



280 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the bride." He went and saw the whole cellar full of wine, 
and the mother and bride weeping. " What is the matter ? " 
he said ; " has anything wrong happened to you ? " " No," 
said the bride, " but I was thinking that if I had a son and 
should call him Bastianelo, and he should die, oh ! how I 
should grieve ! oh ! how I should grieve ! " Then he, too, 
began to weep, and all three wept ; and meanwhile the wine 
was running over the cellar. 

When the groom saw that neither the bride, nor the 
mother, nor the father came back, he said : " Now I will go 
and see what the matter is that no one returns." He went 
into the cellar and saw all the wine running over the cellar. 
He hastened and stopped the cask, and then asked : " What 
is the matter, that you are all weeping, and have let the 
wine run all over the cellar ? " Then the bride said : " I 
was thinking that if I had a son and called him Bastianelo 
and he should die, oh ! how I should grieve ! oh ! how I 
should grieve ! " Then the groom said : " You stupid fools ! 
are you weeping at this, and letting all the wine run into the 
cellar ? Have you nothing else to think of ? It shall never 
be said that I remained with you ! I will roam about the 
world, and until I find three fools greater than you I will 
not return home." 

He had a bread-cake made, took a bottle of wine, a sau- 
sage, and some linen, and made a bundle, which he put on 
a stick and carried over his shoulder. He journeyed and 
journeyed, but found no fool. At last he said, worn out: 
" I must turn back, for I see I cannot find a greater fool 
than my wife." He did not know what to do, whether to 
go on or to turn back. " Oh ! " he said, " it is better to try 
and go a little farther." So he went on and shortly he saw 
a man in his shirt-sleeves at a well, all wet with perspira- 
tion and water. " What are you doing, sir, that you are 
so covered with water and in such a sweat ? " " Oh ! let 
me alone," the man answered, "for I have been here a 
long time drawing water to fill this pail and I cannot fill 
it." "What are you drawing the water in?" he asked 
him. " In this sieve," he said. " What are you thinking 



STORIES AND JESTS. 28 1 

about, to draw water in that sieve ? Just wait ! " He went 
to a house near by, and borrowed a bucket, with which 
he returned to the well and filled the pail. " Thank you, 
good man, God knows how long I should have had to 
remain here ! " " Here is one who is a greater fool than 
my wife." 

He continued his journey and after a time he saw at a 
distance a man in his shirt who was jumping down from a 
tree. He drew near, and saw a woman under the same 
tree holding a pair of breeches. He asked them what they 
were doing, and they said that they had been there a long 
time, and that the man was trying on those breeches and 
did not know how to get into them. " I have jumped, and 
jumped," said the man, "until I am tired out and I cannot 
imagine how to get into those breeches." "Oh ! " said the 
traveller, " you might stay here as long as you wished, for 
you would never get into them in this way. Come down 
and lean against the tree." Then he took his legs and put 
them in the breeches, and after he had put them on, he 
said : " Is that right ? " " Very good, bless you ; for if it 
had not been for you, God knows how long I should have 
had to jump." Then the traveller said to himself : " I have 
seen two greater fools than my wife." 

Then he went his way and as he approached a city he 
heard a great noise. When he drew near he asked what it 
was, and was told it was a marriage, and that it was the 
custom in that city for the brides to enter the city gate on 
horseback, and that there was a great discussion on this 
occasion between the groom and the owner of the horse, 
for the bride was tall and the horse high, and they could 
not get through the gate ; so that they must either cut off 
the bride's head or the horse's legs. The groom did not 
wish his bride's head cut off, and the owner of the horse 
did not wish his horse's legs cut off, and hence this disturb- 
ance. Then the traveller said : " Just wait," and came up 
to the bride and gave her a slap that made her lower her 
head, and then he gave the horse a kick, and so they passed 
through the gate and entered the city. The groom and the 



282 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

owner of the horse asked the traveller what he wanted, for 
he had saved the groom his bride, and the owner of the 
horse his horse. He answered that he did not wish any- 
thing and said to himself : " Two and one make three ! that 
is enough ; now I will go home." He did so and said to his 
wife : " Here I am, my wife ; I have seen three greater fools 
then you ; now let us remain in peace and think about 
nothing else." They renewed the wedding and always re- 
mained in peace. After a time the wife had a son whom 
they named Bastianelo, and Bastianelo did not die, but still 
lives with his father and mother. 2 

There is a Sicilian version of this story (Pitre, No. 148) 
called, "The Peasant of Larcara," in which the bride's 
mother imagines that her daughter has a son who falls into 
the cistern. The groom (they are not yet married) is dis- 
gusted and sets out on his travels with no fixed purpose of 
returning if he finds some fools greater than his mother-in- 
law, as in the Venetian tale. The first fool he meets is a 
mother, whose child, in playing the game called nocciole* 
tries to get his hand out of the hole while his fist is full of 
stones. He cannot, of course, and the mother thinks they 
will have to cut off his hand. The traveller tells the child 
to drop the stones, and then he draws out his hand easily 
enough. Next he finds a bride who cannot enter the 
church because she is very tall and wears a high comb. 
The difficulty is settled as in the former story. 

After a while he comes to a woman who is spinning and 
drops her spindle. She calls out to the pig, whose name is 
Tony, to pick it up for her. The pig does nothing but 
grunt, and the woman in anger cries: "Well, you won't 
pick it up ? May your mother die ! " 

The traveller, who had overheard all this, takes a piece of 
paper, which he folds up like a letter, and then knocks at 
the door. " Who is there ? " " Open the door, for I have 
a letter for you from Tony's mother, who is ill and wishes 

* A game played with peach-pits, which are thrown into holes made in the 
ground and to which certain numbers are attached. 



STORIES AND JESTS. 283 

to see her son before she dies." The woman wonders that 
her imprecation has taken effect so soon, and readily con- 
sents to Tony's visit. Not only this, but she loads a mule 
with everything necessary for the comfort of the body and 
soul of the dying pig. 

The traveller leads away the mule with Tony, and returns 
home so pleased with having found that the outside world 
contains so many fools that he marries as he had first in- 
tended. 

The credulity of the woman in the last version, in allow- 
ing Tony to visit his sick mother, finds a parallel in a Nea- 
politan story (Imbriani, Pomiglianesi, p. 226) called : 

XCIV. CHRISTMAS. 

Once upon a time there was a husband who had a wife 
who was a little foolish. One day he said to her : " Come, 
put the house in order, for Christmas is coming." As soon 
as he left the house his wife went out on the balcony and 
asked every one who passed if his name was Christmas. 
All said No ; but finally, one — to see why she asked — said 
Yes. Then she made him come in, and gave him every- 
thing that she had (in order to clean out the house). When 
her husband returned he asked her what she had done with 
things. She responded that she had given them to Christ- 
mas, as he had ordered. Her husband was so enraged at 
what he heard that he seized her and gave her a good beat- 
ing. 

Another time she asked her husband when he was going 
to kill the pig. He answered : " At Christmas." The wife 
did as before, and when she spied the man called Christmas 
she called him and gave him the pig, which she had adorned 
with her earrings and necklace, saying that her husband 
had so commanded her. When her husband returned and 
learned what she had done, he gave her a sound thrashing ; 
and from that time he learned to say nothing more to his 
wife. 3 



284 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

In the Sicilian version, Pitre, No. 186, "Long May,"* 
the wife, who is very anxious to make more room in her 
house by getting rid of the grain stored in it, asks her hus- 
band when they shall clean out the house. He answers : 
"When Long May comes." The wife asks the passers-by if 
they are Long May; and at last a swindler says he is, and 
receives as a gift all the grain. The swindler was a pot- 
ter, and the woman told him that he ought to give her a 
load of pots. He did so, and the wife knocked a hole in 
the bottom of each, and strung them on a rope stretched 
across the room. It is needless to say that when the hus- 
band returned the wife received a beating " that left her 
more dead than alive." 

Another story about foolish people is the following Vene- 
tian tale (Bernoni, Fiabe, xiii.), entitled : 

XCV. THE WAGER. 

There was once a husband and a wife. The former said 
one day to the latter : " Let us have some fritters." She 
replied : "What shall we do for a frying-pan?" "Go and 
borrow one from my godmother." "You go and get it; 
it is only a little way off." " Go yourself ; I will take it 
back when we are done with it." So she went and bor- 
rowed the pan, and when she returned said to her husband : 
"Here is the pan, but you must carry it back." So they 
cooked the fritters, and after they had eaten, the husband 
said : " Now let us go to work, both of us, and the one who 
speaks first shall carry back the pan." Then she began to 
spin and he to draw his thread, — for he was a shoemaker, 
— and all the time keeping silence, except that when he 
drew his thread he said: " Leulerb, leulerb ;" and she, spin- 
ning, answered: " Picici, picici, picicib." And they said 
not another word. 

Now there happened to pass that way a soldier with a 
horse, and he asked a woman if there was any shoemaker in 

* There is a Sicilian phrase : " Long as the month of May," to indicate 
what is very long. 



STORIES AND JESTS. 285 

that street. She said that there was one near by, and took 
him to the house. The soldier asked the shoemaker to 
come and cut his horse a girth, and he would pay him. The 
latter made no answer but : " Leulerb, leulerb" and his wife • 
" Picici, picici, picicib." Then the soldier said : " Come and 
cut my horse a girth, or I will cut your head off ! " The 
shoemaker only answered: "Leulerb, leulerb" and his 
wife: " Picici, picicl, picicib." Then the soldier began to 
grow angry, and seized his sword and said to the shoe- 
maker : " Either come and cut my horse a girth, or I will 
cut your head off ! " 

But to no purpose. The shoemaker did not wish to be 
the first one to speak, and only replied : " Leulerb, leulerb" 
and his wife: "Picici, picici, picicib." Then the soldier 
got mad in good earnest, seized the shoemaker's head, and 
was going to cut it off. When his wife saw that, she cried 
out: "Ah! don't, for mercy's sake!" "Good !" exclaimed 
her husband, " good ! Now you go and carry the pan back 
to my godmother, and I will go and cut the horse's girth." 
And so he did, and won the wager. 

In a Sicilian story with the same title (Pitre, No. 181), 
the husband and wife fry some fish, and then set about 
their respective work, — shoemaking and spinning, — and 
the one who finishes first the piece of work begun is to eat 
the fish. While they were singing and whistling at their 
work, a friend comes along, who knocks at the door, but re- 
ceives no answer. Then he enters and speaks to them, but 
still no reply ; finally, in anger, he sits down at the table 
and eats up all the fish himself. 4 

One of our most popular stories illustrating woman's ob- 
stinacy is found everywhere in Italy. The following is the 
Sicilian version : 



XCVI. SCISSORS THEY WERE. 

Once upon a time there was a husband and a wife. The 
husband was a tailor ; so was the wife, and in addition was 



286 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

a good housekeeper. One day the husband found some 
things in the kitchen broken, — pots, glasses, plates. He 
asked : " How were they broken ? " " How do I know ? " 
answered the wife. " What do you mean by saying ' how 
do I know ? ' Who broke them ? " " Who broke them ? I, 
with the scissors," said the wife, in anger. " With the scis- 
sors ? " "With the scissors!" "Are you telling the 
truth ? I want to know what you broke them with. If 
you don't tell me, I will beat you." "With the scissors!" 
(for she had the scissors in her hand). " Scissors, do you 
say ? " " Scissors they were ! " " Ah ! what do you mean ? 
Wait a bit ; I will make you see whether it was you with the 
scissors." So he tied a rope around her and began to lower 
her into the well, saying : " Come, how did you break 
them ? You see I am lowering you into the well." " It 
was the scissors ! " The husband, seeing her so obstinate, 
lowered her into the well ; and she, for all that, did not 
hold her tongue. " How did you break them ? " said the 
husband. " It was the scissors." Then her husband low- 
ered her more, until she was half way down. " What did 
you do it with ? " " It was the scissors." Then he lowered 
her until her feet touched the water. " What did you do 
it with ? " "It was the scissors !" Then he let her down 
into the water to her waist. " What did you do it with ? " 
" It was the scissors ! " " Take care ! " cried her husband, 
enraged at seeing her so obstinate, " it will take but little 
to put you under the water. You had better tell what you 
did it with ; it will be better for you. How is it possible to 
break pots and dishes with the scissors ! What has become 
of the pieces, if they were cut?" " It was the scissors! 
the scissors ! " Then he let go the rope. Splash ! his wife 
is all under the water. " Are you satisfied now ? Do you 
say any longer that it was with the scissors ? " The wife 
could not speak any more, for she was under the water ; 
but what did she do ? She stuck her hand up out of the 
water, and with her fingers began to make signs as if she 
were cutting with the scissors. What could the poor hus- 
band do ? He said : " I am losing my wife, and then I shall 



STORIES AND JESTS. 287 

have to go after her. I will pull her out now, and she may 
say that it was the scissors or the shears." Then he pulled 
her out, and there was no way of making her tell with 
what she had broken all those things in the kitchen. 5 

Another familiar story is : 



XCVII. THE DOCTOR'S APPRENTICE. 

Once upon a time there was a doctor who took his ap- 
prentice with him when he made his visits. One day while 
visiting a patient, the doctor said : " Why do you not listen 
to my orders that you are not to eat anything ?" The in- 
valid said : "Sir, I assure you that I have eaten nothing." 
"That is not true," answered the doctor, " for I have found 
your pulse beating like that of a person who has eaten 
grapes." The patient, convicted, said : " It is true that I 
have eaten some grapes ; but it was only a little bunch." 
"Very well ; do not risk eating again, and don't think you 
can fool me." 

The poor apprentice, who was with the doctor, was 
amazed to see how his master guessed from the pulse that 
his patient had eaten grapes ; and as soon as they had left 
the house he asked : " Master, how did you perceive that 
he had eaten grapes?" "Listen," said the doctor. "A 
person who visits the sick must never pass for a fool. As 
soon as you enter, cast your eyes on the bed and under the 
bed, too, and from the crumbs that you see you can guess 
what the patient has eaten. I saw the stalk of the grapes, 
and from that I inferred that he had eaten grapes." 

The next day there were many patients in the town, and 
the doctor, not being able to visit tbem all, sent his appren- 
tice to visit a few. Among others, the apprentice went to 
see the man who had eaten the grapes ; and wishing to play 
the part of an expert like his master, to show that he was a 
skilful physician, when he perceived that there were bits 
of straw under the bed, said angrily : " Will you not under- 
stand that you must not eat ? " The invalid said : " I as- 



288 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

sure you that I have not even tasted a drop of water." 
"Yes, sir, you have," answered the apprentice ; "you have 
been eating straw, for I see the bits under the bed." The 
sick man replied at once : " Do you take me for an ass like 
yourself ? " And so the apprentice cut the figure of the 
fool that he was. 6 

There are two figures in Sicilian folk-lore around whom 
many jokes have gathered which are, in other parts of Italy, 
told of some nameless person or attributed to the continen- 
tal counterparts of the insular heroes. These two are Fir- 
razzanu and Giufa. The former is the practical joker ; the 
second, the typical booby found in the popular literature of 
all peoples. 

The following stories of Firrazzanu (unless otherwise in- 
dicated) are from Pitre, No. 1 56. 



XCVIII. FIRRAZZANU'S WIFE AND THE QUEEN. 

Firrazzanu was the valet of a prince in Palermo, on whom 
he also played his tricks ; but as Firrazzanu was known and 
everybody was amused by him, the prince overlooked them. 

The queen was once in Palermo, and wished to know 
Firrazzanu. He went to see her, and amused her some- 
what. The queen said : " Are you married, or single ? " 
" Married, your Majesty." " I wish to make your wife's ac- 
quaintance." " How can that be, your Majesty, for my wife 
is deaf? " (Firrazzanu made this up out of his own head, 
for it was not true.) " No matter ; when I speak with her 
I will scream. Go, have your wife come here." 

Firrazzanu went home. "Fanny, the queen wants to 
know you ; but you must remember that she is a little hard 
of hearing, and if you wish to speak to her, you must raise 
your voice." 

"Very well," said his wife, "let us go." When they ar- 
rived at the palace she said to the queen, in a loud voice : 
"At your Majesty's feet!" The queen said to herself: 
"You see, because she is deaf, she screams as if everybody 



STORIES AND JESTS. 289 

else were deaf ! " Then she said to her, loudly : " Good 
day, my friend ; how do you do ? " " Very well, your Maj- 
esty ! " answered Firrazzanu's wife, still louder. The queen, 
to make herself heard, raised her voice and screamed, also, 
and Fanny, for her part, cried out louder and louder, so 
that it seemed as if they were quarrelling. Firrazzanu 
could contain himself no longer, and began to laugh, so 
that the queen perceived the joke ; and if Firrazzanu had 
not run away, perhaps she would have had him arrested, 
and who knows how the matter had ended ? 7 

The second story, "The Tailor who twisted his Mouth," 
has already been mentioned in Chapter III. 

On one occasion (No. 7) the viceroy gave a feast, and 
needed some partridges. Now the word pirnicana means 
both partridge and humpback ; so Firrazzanu said he would 
get the viceroy as many pirnicani as he wanted, although 
they were very scarce. The viceroy said twenty would do. 
Firrazzanu then collected a score of humpbacks and intro- 
duced them into the viceroy's kitchen, sending word to 
the viceroy that the pirnicani were ready. His excel- 
lency wished to see them, and Firrazzanu led his troop to 
his apartment. When they were all in, Firrazzanu said : 
"Here they are." The viceroy looked around and said: 
"Where ? " " Here. You wanted pirnicani, and these are 
pirnicani." The viceroy laughed, gave each of the hump- 
backs a present, and dismissed them. 8 

Another time, while the prince was at dinner, Firrazzanu 
led a number of asses under his window, and made them 
bray so that the poor prince was driven almost to distrac- 
tion. The author of the joke, as usual, took to his heels, 
and escaped. 

Once a very wealthy prince, having a great number of 
rents to collect, and not succeeding, thought of making 
Firrazzanu collector. " Here," said he to him, " take my 
authority, and collect for me, and I will give you twenty 
per cent." Firrazzanu went into the places where the rents 
were to be collected, and called together all the debtors. 
19 






29O ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

What do you suppose he did ? He made them pay his 
share, that is, twenty per cent, and nothing more. " The 
rest," he said, " you can pay another year to the prince ; 
now you may depart." 

Then he went back to the prince. " What have you done, 
Firrazzanu? Have you collected all the rents?" "What 
are you talking about collecting ! I had hard work to col- 
lect my share." " What do you mean ? " " I collected 
with difficulty the twenty per cent, that belonged to me ; 
your share will be paid next year." The prince was obliged 
to laugh at last, and Firrazzanu went away happy and sat- 
isfied. 9 

Another time the prince went hunting, and ordered Fir- 
razzanu, when it was convenient, to tell the princess that 
he should not be home to dinner that day. Firrazzanu did 
not find it convenient to deliver the message for a week, 
when he said that the prince would not be home to dine 
that day. On the first occasion, of course, the princess 
waited for her husband in great anxiety until midnight ; on 
the second she went out to pay visits, and when the prince 
returned, he found his wife out, and no dinner prepared. 
Firrazzanu, when scolded, excused himself by saying that 
the prince told bim to deliver the message when convenient. 

This recalls the story in Straparola (XIII. 6) where a 
master orders his lazy servant to go to market and buy 
some meat, and says to him, sarcastically: "Go and stay a 
year!" which command the servant obeys to the letter. 

The viceroy at last, angry at one of Firrazzanu's jokes, 
banished him to the town of Murriali. When Firrazzanu 
grew tired of the place, he had a cart filled with the earth 
of the town, and rode into Palermo on it. The viceroy had 
him arrested as soon as he saw him, but Firrazzanu pro- 
tested that he had not broken the viceroy's command, for 
he was still on the earth of Murriali. 

The same story is told of Gonnella, the Italian counter- 
part of Firrazzanu, by Sacchetti (Nov. 27), and Bandello 
(IV. 18). 

The prince desired once to give Firrazzanu a lesson that 



STORIES AND JESTS. 29 1 

would correct him of his fondness for jokes ; so he told the 
commandant of the castle that he would send him one day 
a servant of his with a letter, and that he, the commandant, 
should carry out the orders contained in it. 

A week after, the prince called Firrazzanu and said : " Go 
to the commandant of the castle and ask him to give you 
what this letter says." 

Firrazzanu went, turning over the letter and in doubt 
about the matter. Just then he met another servant and 
said to him : "Carry this letter for me to the commandant 
of the castle, and tell him to give you what he has to give 
you. When you return, we will have a good drink of wine." 

The servant went and delivered the letter to the com- 
mandant, who opened it, and read : " The commandant will 
give my servant, who is a rascal, a hundred lashes, and then 
send him back to me." The order was carried out, and the 
poor servant returned to the palace more dead than alive. 
When Firrazzanu saw him, he burst out laughing, and said : 
" My brother, for me and for you, better you than me." 

This story is told in Gonzenbach (No. 75) as the way in 
which the queen tried to punish Firrazzanu for the joke he 
played on her by telling her his wife was deaf. 

There are other stories told of Firrazzanu, but they do 
not deserve a place here, and we can direct our attention 
at once to Giufa, the typical booby, who appears in the 
various provinces of Italy under different names. 10 

The first story told of him in Pitre s collection (No. 190) 
is : 

XCIX. GIUFA AND THE PLASTER STATUE. 

Once upon a time there was a very poor woman who had 
a son called Giufa, who was stupid, lazy, and cunning. His 
mother had a piece of cloth, and said one day to Giufa : 
" Take this cloth, and go and sell it in a distant town, and 
take care to sell it to those who talk little." So Giufa set 
out, with the cloth on his shoulder. 

When he came to a town, he began to cry : " Who wants 
cloth ? " The people called him, and began to talk a great 



292 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

deal ; one thought it coarse, another dear. Giufa thought 
they talked too much, and would not sell it to them. After 
walking a long way, he entered a court-yard where he found 
nothing but a plaster image. Giufa said to it : " Do you 
want to buy the cloth ? " The statue said not a word, and 
Giufa, seeing that it spoke little, said : " Now I must sell 
you the cloth, for you speak little ; " and he took the cloth 
and hung it on the statue, and went away, saying : " To- 
morrow I will come for the money." 

The next day he went after the money, and found the 
cloth gone. " Give me the money for the cloth." The 
statue said nothing. " Since you will not give me the 
money, I will show you who I am ; " and he borrowed a 
mattock, and struck the statue until he overthrew it, and 
inside of it he found a jar of money. He put the money in 
a bag, and went home to his mother, and told her that he 
had sold the cloth to a person who did not speak, and gave 
him no money ; that he had killed him with a mattock, and 
thrown him down, and he had given him the money which 
he had brought home. His mother, who was wise, said to 
him : " Say nothing about it, and we will eat this money 
up little by little." n 

Another time his mother said to him : " Giufa, I have 
this piece of cloth to be dyed ; take it and leave it with the 
dyer, the one who dyes green and black." Giufa put it on 
his shoulder, and went off. On his way he saw a large, 
beautiful snake, and because it was green he said to it : 
" My mother has sent me with this cloth which she wants 
dyed. To-morrow I will come for it." And there he left it. 

He went home and told his mother, who began to tear 
her hair. "Ah! shameless fellow! how you ruin me! 
Hasten and see whether it is there still ! " Giufa went back, 
but the cloth had disappeared. 12 



STORIES AND JESTS. 293 

C. giufa AND THE JUDGE. 

One day Giufa went out to gather herbs, and it was night 
before he returned. On his way back the moon rose 
through the clouds, and Giufa sat down on a stone and 
watched the moon appear and disappear behind the clouds, 
and he exclaimed constantly : " It appears, it appears ! it 
sets, it sets ! " 

Now there were near the way some thieves, who were 
skinning a calf which they had stolen, and when they 
heard : " It appears, it sets ! " they feared that the officers 
of justice were coming, so they ran away and left the meat. 
When Giufa saw the thieves running away, he went to see 
what it was and found the calf skinned. He took his knife 
and cut off flesh enough to fill his sack and went home. 
When he arrived there his mother asked him why he came 
so late. He said it was because he was bringing some 
meat which she was to sell the next day, and the money 
was to be kept for him. The next day his mother sent 
him into the country and sold the meat. 

In the evening Giufa returned and asked his mother : 
" Did you sell the meat ? " " Yes, I sold it to the flies on 
credit." " When will they give you the money ? " " When 
they get it." A week passed and the flies brought no 
money, so Giufa went to the judge and said to him : " Sir, 
I want justice. I sold the flies meat on credit and they have 
not come to pay me." The judge said : " I pronounce this 
sentence on them : wherever you see them you may kill 
them." Just then a fly lighted on the judge's nose, and 
Giufa dealt it such a blow that he broke the judge's head. 

The anecdote of the fly in the latter part of the story is 
found independently in a version from Palermo. "The flies 
plagued Giufa and stung him. He went to the judge and 
complained of them. The judge laughed and said : 'Wher- 
ever you see a fly you can strike it.' While the judge was 
speaking a fly rested on his face and Giufa dealt it such a 
blow that he broke the judge's nose." 



294 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

This story, which, as we shall see, has variants in differ- 
ent parts of Italy, is of Oriental origin and is found in the 
P antschatantra. A king asked his pet monkey to watch 
over him while he slept. A bee settled on the king's head ; 
the monkey could not drive it away, so he took the king's 
sword and killed the bee — and the king, too. A similar 
parable is put into the mouth of Buddha. A bald carpenter 
was attacked by a mosquito. He called his son to drive it 
away ; the son took the axe, aimed a blow at the insect, but 
split his father's head in two, in killing the mosquito. In 
the Anvar-i-Suhaili, the Persian translation of the Pant scha- 
tantra, it is a tame bear who keeps the flies from the sleep- 
ing gardener by throwing a stone at his head. 13 

The only popular European versions of this story, as far 
as we know, are found in Italy. Besides those from Sicily, 
there are versions from Florence, Leghorn, and Venice. 
The first is called : 



CI. THE LITTLE OMELET. 

Once upon a time there was a little woman who had a 
little room and a little hen. The hen laid an egg and the 
little woman took it and made a little omelet of it, and put 
it to cool in the window. Along came a fly and ate it up. 
Imagine what an omelet that must have been ! The little 
woman went to the magistrate and told him her story. He 
gave her a club and told her to kill the fly with it wherever 
she saw it. At that moment a fly lighted on the magis- 
trate's nose, and the woman, believing it to be the same 
fly, gave it a blow and broke the magistrate's nose. 

The versions from Leghorn and Venice are in almost 
the same words. 14 

The literary versions are quite abundant, four or five be- 
ing found in Italy, and a number in France, the best known 
of which is La Fontaine's fable of " The Bear and the 
Amateur Gardener," Book VIII. io. 15 

One morning, before Giufa was up, he heard a whistle 



STORIES AND JESTS. 295 

and asked his mother who was passing. She answered 
that it was the morning-singer. One day Giufa, tired of the 
noise, went out and killed the man who was blowing the 
whistle, and came back and told his mother that he had 
killed the morning - singer. His mother went out and 
brought the body into the house and threw it into the well, 
which happened to be dry. Then she remembered that she 
had a lamb, which she killed and also threw in the well. 

Meanwhile the family of the murdered man had learned 
of the murder and had gone to the judge, with their com- 
plaint, and all together went to Giufa's house to investigate 
the matter. The judge said to Giufa : " Where did you 
put the body ? " Giufa, who was silly, replied : " I threw 
it in the well." Then they tied Giufa to a rope and lowered 
him into the well. When he reached the bottom he began 
to feel around and touched wool, and cried out to the son 
of the murdered man : " Did your father have wool ? " 
" My father did not have wool." " This one has wool ; he 
is not your father." Then he touched the tail : " Did your 
father have a tail?" "My father did not have a tail." 
" Then it 's not your father." Then he felt four feet and 
asked : " How many feet did your father have ? " " My 
father had two feet." Giufa said : " This one has four feet ; 
he is not your father." Then he felt the head and said : 
" Did your father have horns ? " " My father did not have 
horns." Giufa replied: "This one has horns; he is not 
your father." Then the judge said : " Giufa, bring him up 
either with the horns or with the wool." So they drew up 
Giufa with the lamb on his shoulder, and when the judge 
saw that it was a real lamb, they set Giufa at liberty. 

In a variant of the above story Giufa's mother, to get rid 
of him, one day tells him to take his gun and go off and 
shoot a cardinal-bird. Giufa asks what a cardinal is, and his 
mother tells him that it is one that has a red head. Giufa, 
of course, shoots a cardinal and carries him home. The 
remainder of the story is as above. In another variant 
Giufa's mother has a cock which she cooks one day, and 
Giufa, who had never eaten anything of the kind before, 



296 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

likes it greatly and asks what it is. His mother tells him 
it is the night-singer. One evening Giufa saw a poor man 
singing behind a door, and thinking he was a night-singer, 
killed him and carried him home. The rest of the story is 
like the first version. 16 

Giufa is not without an occasional gleam of wit, as is 
shown in the following story (Pitre No. 190, § 8), entitled : 

CII. EAT, MY CLOTHES ! 

As Giufa was half a simpleton no one showed him any 
kindness, such as to invite him to his house or give him 
anything to eat. Once Giufa. went to a farm - house for 
something, and the farmers, when they saw him looking so 
ragged and poor, came near setting the dogs on him, and 
made him leave in a hurry. When his mother heard it she 
procured for him a fine coat, a pair of breeches, and a velvet 
vest. Giufa dressed up like an overseer, went to the same 
farm-house, and then you should see what great ceremonies 
they made ! they invited him to dine with them. While at 
the table all were very attentive to him. Giufa, on the one 
hand, filled his stomach, and on the other, put into his 
pockets, coat, and hat whatever was left over, saying : " Eat, 
my clothes, for you were invited ! " 

It is interesting to note that this story is told of no less 
a person than Dante, about whom cluster more popular 
traditions than many are aware of. It is the subject of one 
of Sercambi's novels, and will be found with many other 
interesting traditions of the great poet in Papanti's Dante 
secondo la Tradizione e i Novellatori, Leghorn, 1873. 17 

Giufa was not a very safe person to leave alone in the 
house. Once his mother went to church and told him to 
make some porridge for his little sister. Giufa made a great 
kettle of boiling porridge and fed it to the poor child and 
burned her mouth so that she died. On another occasion 
his mother, on leaving home, told him to feed the hen that 
was sitting and put her back on the nest, so that the eggs 



STORIES AND JESTS. 297 

should not get cold. Giufa stuffed the hen with the food 
until he killed her, and then sat on the eggs himself until 
his mother returned. 18 

Giufa s mother went to mass once and said to him : " Pull 
the door to ! " When his mother had gone out Giufa took 
hold of the door and began to pull it, and pulled and pulled 
until it came off. Giufa put it on his back and carried it to 
the church, and threw it down before his mother, saying : 
"There is the door ! " 19 

A number of other stories about Giufa are found in Gon- 
zenbach (No. 27) which we give here for completeness. 

CIII. GIUFA'S EXPLOITS. 

After Giufa had scalded his little sister to death, his 
mother drove him from the house, and he entered the ser- 
vice of a priest. " What wages do you want ? " asked the 
priest. " One egg a day, and as much bread as I can eat 
with it ; and you must keep me in your service until the 
screech-owl cries in the ivy." The priest was satisfied and 
thought he could not find such a cheap servant again. The 
next morning Giufa received his egg and a loaf of bread. 
He opened the egg and ate it with a pin, and every time he 
licked off the pin he ate a great piece of bread. " Bring me 
a little more bread," he cried ; " this is not enough ;" and 
the priest had to get him a large basket of bread. 

So it was every morning. " Alas for me ! " cried the priest ; 
" in a few weeks he will reduce me to beggary." It was 
winter then and would be several months until the screech- 
owl cried in the ivy. In despair the priest said to his 
mother : " This evening you must hide in the ivy and 
scream like an owl." The old woman did as she was told 
and began to cry : " Miu, miu ! " " Do you hear, Giufa ? " 
said the priest, " the screech-owl is crying in the ivy ; we 
must part." So Giufa took his bundle and was going to 
return to his mother. 

As he was going by the place where the priest's mother 
was still crying "Miu, miu," he exclaimed : " O you cursed 



298 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

screech - owl suffer punishment and sorrow ! " and threw 
stones into the ivy and killed the old woman. 

Giufa's mother would not allow him to remain at home, 
and made him take service as a swineherd with a farmer, 
who sent him into the woods to keep the swine until they 
were fat and then drive them back. So Giufa lived several 
months in the woods until the swine were fat. As he was 
driving them home he met a butcher and said to him : 
"Would you like to buy these swine ? I will sell them to 
you at half price if you will give me back the ears and 
tails." The butcher bought the whole herd, and paid Giufa 
the money, together with the ears and tails. 

Giufa then went to a bog near by and planted two ears 
close together and three spans off a tail, and so with all of 
them. Then he ran in great trouble to the farmer and 
cried : " Sir, imagine what a great misfortune has happened 
to me. I had fattened your swine beautifully and was driv- 
ing them home when they fell into a bog and are all swal- 
lowed up in it. The ears and tails only are still sticking 
out." The farmer hastened with all his people to the bog, 
where the ears and tails still stuck out. They tried to pull 
the swine out, but whenever they seized an ear or a tail it 
came right off and Giufa exclaimed : "You see how fat the 
swine were : they have disappeared in the marsh from pure 
fatness." The farmer was obliged to return home without 
his swine, while Giufa took the money home to his mother 
and remained a time with her. 

One day his mother said to him : " Giufa, we have noth- 
ing to eat to-day ; what shall we do ? " " Leave it to me," 
said he, and went to a butcher. " Gossip, give me half a 
rotulu of meat ; I will give you the money to-morrow." The 
butcher gave him the meat and he went in the same way to 
the baker, the oil-merchant, the wine-dealer, and the cheese- 
merchant and took home to his mother the meat, macaroni, 
bread, oil, wine, and cheese which he had bought on credit, 
and they ate together merrily. 

The next day Giufa pretended he was dead and his 
mother wept and lamented. " My son is dead, my son is 



STORIES AND yESTS. 299 

dead ! " He was put in an open coffin and carried to the 
church and the priests sang the mass for the dead over 
him. When, however, every one in the city heard that 
Giufa was dead, the butcher, the baker, the oil-merchant, 
and the wine-dealer said : " What we gave him yesterday is 
as good as lost. Who will pay us for it now ? " The cheese- 
dealer, however, thought : " Giufa, it is true, owes me only 
four grant* but I will not give them to him. I will go 
and take his cap from him." So he crept into the church, 
but there was still a priest there praying over Giufa's coffin. 
" As long as the priest is there, it is not fitting for me to 
take his cap," thought the cheese-merchant, and hid him- 
self behind the altar. When it was night the last priest de- 
parted and the cheese-merchant was on the point of com- 
ing out from his hiding-place when a band of thieves rushed 
into the church. They had stolen a large bag of money 
and were going to divide it in the dark church. They 
quarrelled over the division and began to cry out and make 
a noise. Thereupon Giufa sat up in his coffin and ex- 
claimed : " Out with you ! " The thieves were greatly 
frightened when the dead man rose up, and believed he was 
calling to the other dead, so they ran out in terror, leaving 
the sack behind. As Giufa was picking up the sack, the 
cheese-merchant sprang from his hiding-place and claimed 
his share of the money. Giufa, however, kept crying : "Your 
share is four grani!' The thieves outside thought he was 
dividing the money among the dead and said to each other : 
" How many he must have called if they receive but four 
grani apiece ! " and ran away as fast as they could run. 
Giufa took the money home to his mother, after he had 
given the cheese-merchant a little to say nothing about 
what had happened. 

Giufa's mother once bought a large stock of flax and said 
to her son : " Giufa, you can surely spin a little so as to be 
doing something." Giufa took a skein from time to time, 
and instead of spinning it put it in the fire and burned it. 
Then his mother became angry and beat him. What did 
Giufa do then ? He took a bundle of twigs and wound it 
* About a cent and a half. 



300 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

with flax like a distaff ; then he took a broom for a spindle and 
sat himself on the roof and began to spin. While he was 
sitting there three fairies came by and said : " Just see how 
nicely Giufa is sitting there and spinning. Shall we not 
give him something ? " The first fairy said : " I will enable 
him to spin as much flax in a night as he touches." The 
second said : " I will enable him to weave in a night as 
much yarn as he has spun." The third said : " I will ena- 
ble him to bleach all the linen he has woven in one night." 
Giufa heard this and at night when his mother had gone 
to bed, he got behind her stock of flax, and as often as he 
touched a skein it was at once spun. When the flax was 
all gone he began to weave, and as soon as he touched the 
loom the linen began to roll from it. Finally he spread 
the linen out and had scarcely wet it a little when it was 
bleached. The next morning Giufa showed his mother the 
fine pieces of linen, and she sold them and earned much 
money. Giufa continued this for several nights ; finally he 
grew tired and wanted to go out to service again. 

He found a place with a smith, whose bellows he was to 
blow. He blew them so hard, however, that he put the fire 
out. The smith said : " Leave off blowing and hammer the 
iron on the anvil." But Giufa pounded on the anvil so 
hard that the iron flew into a thousand pieces. Then the 
smith became angry, but he could not send him away, for 
he had agreed to keep him a year. So he went to a poor 
man and said : " I will make you a handsome present if 
you will tell Giufa that you are Death, and that you have 
come to take him away." The poor man met Giufa one 
day, and said what the smith had told him. Giufa was not 
slow. " What, are you Death ? " cried he, seized the poor 
man, put him in his sack, and carried him to the smithy. 
There he laid him on the anvil and began to hammer away 
on him. " How many years shall I yet live ? " he asked, 
while he was hammering. " Twenty years," cried the man 
in the sack. " That is not near enough." " Thirty years, 
forty years, as long as you will," screamed the man ; but 
Giufa kept on hammering until the poor man was dead. 



STORIES AND JESTS. 301 

The bishop once announced to the whole town that every 
goldsmith should make him a crucifix, and he would pay 
four hundred ounces for the most beautiful one. Whoever 
brought a crucifix that did not please him must lose his 
head. So a goldsmith came and brought him a handsome 
crucifix, but the bishop said it did not please him and had 
the poor man's head cut off, but kept the crucifix. The 
next day a second goldsmith came, who brought a still hand- 
somer crucifix, but it went no better with him than with the 
first. This lasted for some time and many a poor man lost 
his head. When Giufa heard of this he went to a gold- 
smith and said : " Master, you must make me a crucifix 
with a very thick body, but otherwise as fine as you can 
make it." When the crucifix was done Giufa took it on his 
arm and carried it to the bishop. Scarcely had the bishop 
seen it when he cried out : " What are you thinking of, to 
bring me such a monster ? Wait, you shall pay me for it ! " 
"Ah, worthy sir," said Giufa, "just hear me and learn what 
has happened to me. This crucifix was a model of beauty 
when I started with it ; on the way it began to swell with 
anger and the nearer your house I came the more it swelled, 
most of all when I was mounting your stairs. The Lord is 
angry with you on account of the innocent blood that you 
have shed, and if you do not at once give me the four hun- 
dred ounces and an annuity to each of the goldsmiths' wid- 
ows, you, too, will swell in the same way, and God's wrath 
will visit you." The bishop was frightened and gave him the 
four hundred ounces, and bade him send all the widows to 
him so that he could give each of them a yearly pension. 
Giufa took the money and went to each widow and said: 
" What will you give me if I will procure you an annuity 
from the bishop ? " Each gave him a handsome sum and 
Giufa took home to his mother a great heap of money. 

One day Giufa' s mother sent him to another town, where 
there was a fair. On the way some children met him, who 
asked: "Where are you going, Giufa?" "To the fair." 
"Will you bring me back a whistle?" "Yes!" "And me, 
too ? " " Yes ! " " Me, too ? " " Me, too ? " asked one after 



302 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the other, and Giufa said " Yes " to all. At last there was a 
child who said : " Giufa, bring me a whistle, too. Here is a 
penny." When Giufa came back from the fair, he brought 
one whistle only and gave it to the last boy. " Giufa, 
you promised each of us one," cried the other children. 
" You did not give me a penny to buy it with," answered 
Giufa. 20 

The counterpart of Giufa is found in a Venetian story 
(Bernoni, Fiabe, No. n) entitled "The Fool," which is, in 
substance, as follows : 

CIV. THE FOOL. 

Once upon a time there was a mother who had a son 
with little brains. One morning she said : " We must get 
up early, for we have to make bread." So they both rose 
early and began to make bread. The mother made the 
loaves, but took no pains to make them the same size. 
Her son said to her finally : " How small you have made 
this loaf, mother ! " " Oh ! " said she, " it does not matter 
whether they are big or little ; for the proverb says : ' Large 
and small, all must go to mass.' " " Good, good ! " 

When the bread was made, instead of carrying it to the 
baker's, the son took it to the church, for it was the hour for 
mass, saying : " My mother said that, ' Large and small, all 
must go to mass.'" So he threw the loaves down in the 
middle of the church. Then he went home to his mother 
and said : " I have done what you told me to do." " Good ! 
did you take the bread to the baker's ? " " Oh ! mother, if 
you had seen how they all looked at me ! " " You might 
also have cast an eye on them in return," said his mother. 
" Wait, wait, I will cast an eye at them, too," he exclaimed, 
and went to the stable and cut out the eyes of all the an- 
imals, and putting them in a handkerchief, went to the 
church and when any man or woman looked at him he 
threw an eye at them. 

When his mother learned what he had done she took to 



STORIES AND JESTS. 303 

her bed and sent her son for a physician. When the doc- 
tor came he felt her pulse and said : " Oh ! how weak this 
poor woman is ! " Then he told the son that he must take 
good care of his mother and make her some very thin broth 
and give her a bowlful every minute. The son promised 
to obey him and went to the market and bought a sparrow 
and put on the fire a pail of water. When it boiled he put in 
the sparrow and waited until it boiled up two or three times, 
and then took a bowl of the broth to his mother, and re- 
peated the dose as fast as he could. 

The next day the physician found the poor woman 
weaker than ever, and told her son he must put something 
heavy on her so as to throw her into a perspiration. When 
the doctor had gone the son piled all the heavy furniture in 
the room on her, and when she could no longer breathe he 
ran for the doctor again. This time the doctor saw that 
nothing was to be done, and advised her son to have her 
confess and prepare for death. So her son dressed her and 
carried her to church and sat her in the confessional and 
told the priest that some one was waiting for him and then 
went home. The priest soon saw that the woman was dead 
and went to find her son. When the son heard that his 
mother was dead, he declared that the priest had killed her, 
and began to beat him. 21 

There are many stories in Italy which turn on the tricks 
played by a sharper on his credulous friends ; a good spec- 
imen of the class is the following from Sicily (Pitre, No. 
157): 

CV. UNCLE CAPRIANO. 

There was once a husband and wife who had a daughter. 
The man's name was Uncle Capriano and he owned near 
the town a piece of property, where he always worked. 
One day thirteen robbers happened to pass that way, saw 
Uncle Capriano, dismounted, and began to talk with him, 
and soon formed a friendship for him. After this they fre- 
quently went to divert themselves with him. When they 



304 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

arrived they always saluted him with : " Good day, Uncle 
Capriano," and he answered : " Your servant, gentlemen ; 
what are your worships doing ? " " We have come to 
amuse ourselves. Go, Uncle Capriano, go and lunch, for we 
will do the work meanwhile." So he went and ate and 
they did his work for him. Finally, what do you suppose 
Uncle Capriano tried to do ? He sought to invent some 
way to get money from the robbers. When he went home 
he said to his wife : "lam on friendly terms with the rob- 
bers and I would like to see whether I can get a little 
money out of them, and I have invented this story to tell 
them : that we have a rabbit, which I send home alone 
every evening with fire-wood and things for soup, which my 
wife cooks." Then he said to his daughter : " When I come 
with the thieves, you bathe the rabbit in water and come 
out of the door to meet me and say : ' Is that the way to load 
the poor little rabbit so that it comes home tired to death ? ' ' 
When the thieves heard that he had a rabbit that carried 
things, they wanted it, saying : " If we had it we could send 
it to carry money, food, and other things to our houses." 
Uncle Capriano said to them one day : " I should like to 
have you come to my house to-day." There were thirteen 
of the thieves ; one said Yes, another said No. The captain 
said : " Let us go and see the rabbit." When they arrived 
at the house the daughter came to the door and said : " Is 
that the way to load the poor little rabbit so that it comes 
home tired to death ? " When they entered the house all 
felt of the rabbit and exclaimed : " Poor little animal ! poor 
little animal ! it is all covered with sweat." When the 
thieves saw this they looked at each other and said : " Shall 
we ask him to give us this little rabbit ? " Then they said : 
" Uncle Capriano, you must give us the rabbit without any 
words, and we will pay you whatever you ask." He an- 
swered : " Ask me for anything except this rabbit, for if I 
give you that I shall be ruined." They replied : " You 
must give it to us without further words, whether you are 
ruined or not." Finally Uncle Capriano let them have the 
rabbit for two hundred ounces, and they gave him twenty 



STORIES AND JESTS. 305 

besides to buy himself a present with. After the thieves 
had got possession of the rabbit, they went to a house in 
the country to try it. They each took a bag of money and 
said : " Let us send a bag to each of our houses." The 
captain said : " First, carry a bag to mine." So they took 
the rabbit to load it, and after they had put the bags on it, 
the rabbit could not move and one of the thieves struck it 
on the haunch with a switch. Then the rabbit ran away 
instantly. The thieves went in great anger to Uncle Ca- 
priano and said : " Did you have the boldness to play such 
a trick on us, to sell us a rabbit that could not stir when 
we put a few bags of money on it ? " " But, gentlemen," 
said the old man, " did you beat it ? " " Of course," an- 
swered one of the thieves, " my companion struck it with a 
switch on the haunch." The old man asked : " But where 
did you strike it, on the right or on the left haunch ? " 
" On the left." " That is why the rabbit ran away," said 
the old man. "You should have hit it on the right. If you 
did not observe these conditions, what fault is it of mine ? " 
" This is true," said the thieves, " Uncle Capriano is right; 
so go and eat and we will attend to the work." And so 
their friendship was not broken this time. 

After a time Uncle Capriano said to his wife : " We must 
get some more money from the thieves." "In what way ? " 
" To-morrow you must buy a new pot, and then you must 
cook in an old pot somewhere in the house, and at Ave 
Maria, just before I come home, you must empty the old 
pot into the new one, and put it on the hearth without any 
fire. To-morrow I will tell the thieves that I have a pot 
that cooks without any fire." 

The next evening Uncle Capriano persuaded the thieves 
to go home with him. When they saw the pot they looked 
at one another and said : " We must ask him to give it to 
us." After some hesitation, he sold it to them for four 
hundred ounces, and twenty over as before. 

When the thieves arrived at their house in the country, 
they killed a fine kid, put it into the pot, and set it on the 
hearth, without any fire, and went away. • In the evening 



305 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

they all ran and tried to see who would arrive first, and find 
the meat cooked. The one who arrived first took out a 
piece of meat, and saw that it was as they had left it. Then 
he gave the pot a kick, and broke it in two. When the 
others came and found the meat not cooked, they started 
for Uncle Capriano's, and complained to him that he had 
sold them a pot that cooked everything, and that they had 
put meat into it, and found it raw. " Did you break the 
pot?" asked Uncle Capriano. "Of course we broke it." 
" What kind of a hearth did you have, high or low ? " One 
of the thieves answered: " Rather high." "That was why 
the pot did not cook ; it should have been low. You did not 
observe the conditions and broke the pot ; what fault is that 
of mine ? " The thieves said : " Uncle Capriano is right ; 
go, Uncle Capriano, and eat, for we will do your work." 

Some time after, Uncle Capriano said again to his wife : 
" We must get some more money out of them." " But how 
can we manage it ? " " You know that we have a whistle 
in the chest ; have it put in order, and to-morrow go to the 
butcher's, and get a bladder of blood, and fix it about your 
neck, and put on your mantilla ; and when I return home, 
let me find you sitting down and angry, and the candle not 
lighted. I will bring my friends with me, and when I find 
the candle not lighted, I will begin to cry out, and you will 
not utter a word ; then I will take my knife and cut your 
throat. You will fall down on the floor ; the blood will 
run out of the bladder, and the thieves will believe that you 
are dead. You " (turning to his daughter) — " what I say I 
mean, when I tell you : ' Get the whistle ' — get it and give 
it to me. When I blow it three times, you " (speaking to 
his wife) " will get up from the floor. When the thieves 
see this operation they will want the whistle, and we will 
get another six hundred ounces from them." 

[Everything took place as Uncle Capriano had arranged ; 
the thieves paid him six hundred ounces, and twenty over 
as usual, and then went home and killed their wives, to try 
the whistle on them. The rage of the thieves can be imag- 
ined when they found they had been deceived again. In 



STORIES AND JESTS. 307 

order to avenge themselves, they took a sack and went to 
Uncle Capriano, and without any words seized him, put him 
in it, and taking him on a horse, rode away. They came 
after a time to a country-house, where they stopped to eat, 
leaving Uncle Capriano outside in the bag.] 

Uncle Capriano, who was in the bag, began to cry : 
" They want to give me the king's daughter, and I don't 
want her ! " There happened to be near by a herdsman, 
who heard what he was saying about the king's daughter, 
and he said to himself : " I will go and take her myself." 
So he went to Uncle Capriano and said : " What is the 
matter with you?" "They want to give me the king's 
daughter, and I don't want her, because I am married." 
The herdsman said : " I will take her, for I am single ; but 
how can we arrange it ? " Uncle Capriano answered : 
"Take me out, and get into the bag yourself." "That is 
a good idea," said the herdsman ; so he set Uncle Capriano 
at liberty, and got into the bag himself. Uncle Capriano 
tied him fast, took his crook, and went to tend the sheep. 
The herdsman soon began to cry : " They want to give me 
the king's daughter. I will take her, I will take her ! " In 
a little while the thieves came and put the bag on a horse, 
and rode away to the sea, the herdsman crying out all the 
time : " They want to give me the king's daughter. I will 
take her, I will take her ! " When they came to the sea, 
they threw the bag in, and returned home. On their way 
back, they happened to look up on the mountain, and ex- 
claimed : " See there ! is that not Uncle Capriano ? " 
"Yes, it is." " How can that be; did we not throw him 
into the sea, and is he there now ? " Then they went to 
him and said : " How is this, Uncle Capriano, did n't we 
throw you in the sea ? " " Oh ! you threw me in near the 
shore, and I found these sheep and oxen ; if you had thrown 
me in farther out, I would have found many more." Then 
they asked Uncle Capriano to throw them all in, and they 
went to the sea, and he began to throw them in, and each 
said : " Quick, Uncle Capriano, throw me in quickly before 
my comrades get them all ! " After he had thrown them 



308 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

all in, Uncle Capriano took the horses and sheep and oxen, 
and went home and built palaces, and became very rich, 
and married his daughter, and gave a splendid banquet. 22 

A very interesting class of stories is found in Pitre (Nos. 
246-270) illustrating proverbial sayings. The first, on the 
text " The longer one lives, the more one learns," relates 
that a child came to an old man and asked for some coals 
to light a fire with. The old man said he would willingly 
give them, but the child had nothing to carry them in. 
The child, however, filled his palm with ashes, put a coal on 
them, and went away. The old man gave his head a slap, 
and exclaimed : " With all my years and experience, I did 
not know this thing. ' The longer one lives, the more one 
learns.' " And from that time these words have remained 
for a proverb. 

Another (No. 252) recalls one of Giufa's pranks. A 
husband, to test his wife and friend, who is a bailiff, throws 
a goat's head into the well, and tells the wife that he has 
killed a person and cut off the head to prevent the body 
from being recognized. The wife promises secrecy, but 
soon tells the story to her friend, who denounces the sup- 
posed murderer to the judge. The house is entered by an 
arbor, from which they climb into a window, and the hus- 
band is arrested and taken to the well, which a bailiff de- 
scends, and finds the goat's head. The husband explains 
his trick, which gave rise to the saying : " Do not confide 
a secret to a woman ; do not make a bailiff your friend, and 
do not rent a house with an arbor." 23 

Another shows how the stories of classic times survive 
among the people. Nero, a wicked king, goes about in dis- 
guise to hear what the people say of him. One day he 
meets an old woman in the field, and when Nero's name is 
mentioned, instead of cursing him as others do, she says : 
" May God preserve him." She explains her words by 
saying that they have had several kings, each worse than 
the other, and now they have Nero, who tears every son 
from his mother, wherefore may God guard and preserve 
him, for " There is no end to evil." 24 



STORIES AND JESTS. 309 

There was once a whimsical prince who thought he could 
arrange the world and animals as he pleased and overcome 
Nature. He taught his horse to devour flesh and his dogs 
to eat grass. He trained an ass to dance and accompany 
himself by his braying : in short, the prince boasted that 
by means of Art one could rule Nature. Among other 
things he trained a cat to stand on the table and hold a 
lighted candle while he was eating. No matter what was 
brought on the table, the cat never moved, but held the 
candle as if it had been a statue of wood. The prince 
showed the cat to his friends and said, boastingly : " Na- 
ture is nothing ; my art is more powerful and can do this 
and other things." His friends often said that everything 
must be true to its nature ; "Art departs and Nature pre- 
vails." The prince invited them to make any trial they 
wished, asserting that the cat would never forget the art he 
had taught it. One of his friends caught a mouse one day 
and wrapped it up in a handkerchief and carried it with 
him to the prince's. When the cat heard and saw the 
mouse, it dropped the candlestick and ran after the mouse. 
The friend began to laugh, and said to the prince, who 
stood with his mouth wide open with amazement : " Dear 
prince, I always told you Art departs and Nature prevails ! " 

This story is told of Dante and Cecco d' Ascoli, the for- 
mer playing the role of the prince. 25 

To counterbalance the stories of foolish people which 
have been related above, we will conclude this chapter with 
some stories of clever people, stories which were popular 
as long ago as the Middle Ages. 

The first is from Sicily (Gonz., No. 50) and is called : 

CVII. THE CLEVER PEASANT. 

There was once a king who, while hunting, saw a peas- 
ant working in the fields and asked him : " How much do 
you earn in a day?" "Four carlini, your Majesty," an- 
swered the peasant. " What do you do with them ? " con- 
tinued the king. The peasant said : " The first I eat ; the 



310 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

second I put out at interest ; the third I give back, and the 
fourth I throw away." 

The king rode on, but after a time the peasant's answer 
seemed very curious to him, so he returned and asked him : 
" Tell me, what do you mean by eating the first carlino, put- 
ting the second out to interest, giving back the third, and 
throwing away the fourth ? " The peasant answered : " With 
the first I feed myself ; with the second I feed my children, 
who must care for me when I am old ; with the third I feed 
my father, and so repay him for what he has done for me, 
and with the fourth I feed my wife, and thus throw it away, 
because I have no profit from it." " Yes," said the king, 
" you are right. Promise me, however, that you will not tell 
any one this until you have seen my face a hundred times." 
The peasant promised and the king rode home well pleased. 

While sitting at table with his ministers, he said : " I 
will give you a riddle : A peasant earns four carlini a day ; 
the first he eats ; the second he puts out at interest ; the 
third he gives back, and the fourth he throws away. What 
is that ? " No one was able to answer it. 

One of the ministers remembered finally that the king 
had spoken the day before with the peasant, and he re- 
solved to find the peasant and obtain from him the answer. 
When he saw the peasant he asked him for the answer to 
the riddle, but the peasant answered : " I cannot tell you, 
for I have promised the king to tell no one until I have seen 
his face a hundred times." "Oh!" said the minister, "I 
can show you the king's face," and drew a hundred coins 
from his purse and gave them to the peasant. On every 
coin the king's face was to be seen of course. After the 
peasant had looked at each coin once, he said : " I have now 
seen the king's face a hundred times, and can tell you the 
answer to the riddle," and told him it. 

The minister went in great glee to the king and said : 
"Your Majesty, I have found the answer to the riddle ; it 
is so and so." The king exclaimed : " You can have heard 
it only from the peasant himself," had the peasant sum- 
moned, and took him to task. " Did you not promise me 



STORIES AND JESTS. 311 

not to tell it until you had seen my face a hundred times ? " 
"But, your Majesty," answered the peasant, " your minister 
showed me your picture a hundred times." Then he showed 
him the bag of money that the minister had given him. 
The king was so pleased with the clever peasant that he 
rewarded him, and made him a rich man for the rest of his 
life. 26 

CVIII. THE CLEVER GIRL. 

Once upon a time there was a huntsman who had a wife 
and two children, a son and a daughter; and all lived to- 
gether in a wood where no one ever came, and so they knew 
nothing about the world. The father alone sometimes went 
to the city and brought back the news. The king's son 
once went hunting and lost himself in that wood, and while 
be was seeking his way it became night. He was weary 
and hungry. Imagine how he felt ! But all at once he saw 
a light shining at a distance. He followed it and reached 
the huntsman's house and asked for lodging and something 
to eat. The huntsman recognized him at once and said : 
" Highness, we have already supped on our best. But if 
we can find anything for you, you must be satisfied with it. 
What can we do ? We are so far from the towns, that we 
cannot procure what we need every day." Meanwhile he 
had a capon cooked for him. The prince did not wish to 
eat it alone, but called all the huntsman's family, and gave 
the head of the capon to the father, the back to the mother, 
the legs to the son, and the wings to the daughter, and ate 
the rest himself. In the house there were only two beds, 
in the same room. In one the husband and wife slept, in 
the other the brother and sister. The old people went and 
slept in the stable, giving up their bed to the prince. When 
the girl saw that the prince was asleep, she said to her 
brother : " I will wager that you do not know why the 
prince divided the capon among us in the manner he did." 
" Do you know ? Tell me why." " He gave the head to 
papa because he is the head of the family, the back to 
mamma because she has on her shoulders all the affairs of 



312 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

the house, the legs to you because you must be quick in 
performing the errands which are given you, and the wings 
to me to fly away and catch a husband." The prince pre- 
tended to be asleep ; but he was awake and heard these 
words, and perceived that the girl had much judgment ; and 
as she was also pretty, he fell in love with her. 

The next morning he left the huntsman's ; and as soon as 
he reached the court, he sent him, by a servant, a purse of 
money. To the young girl he sent a cake in the form of a 
full moon, thirty patties, and a cooked capon, with three 
questions : " Whether it was the thirtieth of the month in 
the wood, whether the moon was full, and whether the 
capon crowed in the night." The servant, although a 
trusty one, was overcome by his gluttony and ate fifteen of 
the patties, and a good slice of the cake, and the capon. 
The young girl, who had understood it all, sent back word 
to the prince that the moon was not full but on the wane ; 
that it was only the fifteenth of the month and that the 
capon had gone to the mill ; and that she asked him to 
spare the pheasant for the sake of the partridge. The 
prince, too, understood the metaphor, and having summoned 
the servant, he cried : " Rogue ! you have eaten the capon, 
fifteen patties, and a good slice of the cake. Thank that 
girl who has interceded for you; if she had not, I would 
have hung you." 

A few months after this, the huntsman found a gold mor- 
tar, and wished to present it to the prince. But his daughter 
said : " You will be laughed at for this present. You will 
see that the prince will say to you : ' The mortar is fine 
and good, but, peasant, where is the pestle ? ' ' The father 
did not listen to his daughter; but when he carried the 
mortar to the prince, he was greeted as his daughter had 
foretold. " My daughter told me so," said the huntsman. 
" Ah ! if I had only listened to her ! " The prince heard 
these words and said to him : " Your daughter, who pre- 
tends to be so wise, must make me a hundred ells of cloth 
out of four ounces of flax ; if she does not I will hang you 
and her." The poor father returned home weeping, and 



STORIES AND JESTS. 313 

sure that he and his daughter must die, for who could make 
a hundred ells of cloth with four ounces of flax. His 
daughter came out to meet him, and when she learned why 
he was weeping, said : " Is that all you are weeping for ? 
Quick, get me the flax and I will manage it." She made 
four small cords of the flax and said to her father : " Take 
these cords and tell him that when he makes me a loom 
out of these cords I will weave the hundred ells of cloth." 
When the prince heard this answer he did not know what 
to say, and thought no more about condemning the father 
or the daughter. 

The next day he went to the wood to visit the girl. Her 
mother was dead, and her father was out in the fields dig- 
ging. The prince knocked, but no one opened. He knocked 
louder, but the same thing. The young girl was deaf to 
him. Finally, tired of waiting, he broke open the door and 
entered : " Rude girl ! who taught you not to open to one 
of my rank ? Where are your father and mother ? " " Who 
knew it was you ? My father is where he should be and 
my mother is weeping for her sins. You must leave, for I 
have something else to do than listen to you." The prince 
went away in anger and complained to the father of his 
daughter's rude manners, but the father excused her. The 
prince, at last seeing how wise and cunning she was, mar- 
ried her. 

The wedding was celebrated with great splendor, but an 
event happened which came near plunging the princess into 
misfortune. One Sunday two peasants were passing a 
church ; one of them had a hand-cart and the other was 
leading a she-ass ready to foal. The bell rang for mass and 
they both entered the church, one leaving his cart outside 
and the other tying the ass to the cart. While they were 
in the church the ass foaled, and the owner of the ass and 
the owner of the cart both claimed the colt. They appealed 
to the prince, and he decided that the colt belonged to the 
owner of the cart, because, he said, it was more likely that 
the owner of the ass would tie her to the cart in order to 
lay a false claim to the colt than that the owner of the cart 



314 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

would tie it to the ass. The owner of the ass had right on 
his side, and all the people were in his favor, but the prince 
had pronounced sentence and there was nothing to say. 
The poor man then applied to the princess, who advised 
him to cast a net in the square when the prince passed. 
When the prince saw the net, he said : " What are you do- 
ing, you fool ? Do you expect to find fish in the square ? " 
The peasant, who had been advised by the princess, an- 
swered : " It is easier for me to find fish in the square than 
for a cart to have foals." The prince revoked the sen- 
tence, but when he returned to the palace, knowing that 
the princess had suggested the answer to the peasant, he 
said to her : " Prepare to return to your own home within 
an hour. Take with you what you like best and depart." 
She was not at all saddened by the prospect, but ate a bet- 
ter dinner than usual, and made the prince drink a bottle 
of wine in which she had put a sleeping potion ; and when 
he was as sound asleep as a log, she had him put in a car- 
riage and took him with her to her house in the wood. It 
was in January, and she had the roof of the house uncovered 
and it snowed on the prince, who awoke and called his ser- 
vants : " What do you wish ? " said the princess. " I com- 
mand here. Did you not tell me to take from your house 
the thing I liked best ? I have taken you, and now you are 
mine." The prince laughed and they made peace. 27 

The next story is the Italian version of the tale familiar 
to the readers of Grimm by the title of " Doctor Knowall." 
There is a Sicilian version in Pitre, No. 167, in which our 
story forms one of several episodes. It is found, however, 
independently in the Mantuan collection from which we 
take it, changing the name slightly to suit the conclusion of 
the story. 

CIX. CRAB. 

There was once a king who had lost a valuable ring. He 
looked for it everywhere, but could not find it. So he issued 
a proclamation that if any astrologer could tell him where 



STORIES AND JESTS. 315 

it was he would be richly rewarded. A poor peasant by 
the name of Crab heard of the proclamation. He could 
neither read nor write, but took it into his head that he 
wanted to be the astrologer to find the king's ring. So he 
went and presented himself to the king, to whom he said : 
"Your Majesty must know that I am an astrologer, al- 
though you see me so poorly dressed. I know that you 
have lost a ring and I will try by study to find out where 
it is." " Very well," said the king, " and when you have 
found it, what reward must I give you ? " " That is at 
your discretion, your Majesty." " Go, then, study, and we 
shall see what kind of an astrologer you turn out to be." 

He was conducted to a room, in which he was to be shut 
up to study. It contained only a bed and a table on which 
were a large book and writing materials. Crab seated him- 
self at the table and did nothing but turn over the leaves 
of the book and scribble the paper so that the servants who 
brought him his food thought him a great man. They were 
the ones who had stolen the ring, and from the severe 
glances that the peasant cast at them whenever they en- 
tered, they began to fear that they would be found out. 
They made him endless bows and never opened their 
mouths without calling him " Mr. Astrologer." Crab, who, 
although illiterate, was, as a peasant, cunning, all at once 
imagined that the servants must know about the ring, and 
this is the way his suspicions were confirmed. He had 
been shut up in his room turning over his big book and 
scribbling his paper for a month, when his wife came to 
visit him. He said to her : " Hide yourself under the bed, 
and when a servant enters, say : ' That is one ; ' when an- 
other comes, say : ' That is two ; ' and so on." The woman 
hid herself. The servants came with the dinner, and hardly 
had the first one entered when a voice from under the bed 
said: "That is one." The second one entered; the voice 
said : " That is two ; " and so on. The servants were 
frightened at hearing that voice, for they did not know 
where it came from, and held a consultation. One of them 
said : " We are discovered ; if the astrologer denounces us 



316 ITALIAN POPULAR TALES. 

to the king as thieves, we are lost." " Do you know what 
we must do ? " said another. " Let us hear." " We must 
go to the astrologer and tell him frankly that we stole the 
ring, and ask him not to betray us, and present him with a 
purse of money. Are you willing ? " " Perfectly." 

So they went in harmony to the astrologer, and making 
him a lower bow than usual, one of them began : " Mr. 
Astrologer, you have discovered that we stole the ring. 
We are poor people and if you reveal it to the king, we are 
undone. So we beg you not to betray us, and accept this 
purse of money." Crab took the purse and then added: 
" I will not betray you, but you must do what I tell you, if 
you wish to save your lives. Take the ring and make that 
turkey in the court-yard swallow it, and leave the rest to 
me." The servants were satisfied to do so and departed 
with a low bow. The next day Crab went to the king and 
said to him : " Your Majesty must know that after having 
toiled over a month I have succeeded in discovering where 
the ring has gone to." "Where is it, then?" asked the 
king. " A turkey has swallowed it." " A turkey ? very well, 
let us see." 

They went for the turkey, opened it, and found the ring 
inside. The king, amazed, presented the astrologer with 
a large purse of money and invited him to a banquet. 
Among the other dishes, there was brought on the table a 
plate of crabs. Crabs must then have been very rare, be- 
cause only the king and a few others knew their name. 
Turning to the peasant the king said : " You, who are an 
astrologer, must be able to tell me the name of these 
things which are in this dish." The poor astrologer was 
very much puzzled, and, as if speaking to himself, but in 
such a way that the others heard him, he muttered : " Ah ! 
Crab, Crab, what a plight you are in ! " All who did not 
know that his name was Crab rose and proclaimed him the 
greatest astrologer in the world. 28 



NOTES. 



NOTES. 



INTRODUCTION. 

1. There are some popular tales, chiefly Oriental in their origin, in 
the Cente novelle antiche (see the notes to Chapter III.), and Boccaccio 
and his imitators undoubtedly made use of popular material. These 
popular elements, however, are almost exclusively of the class of jests. 
The fairy tale, which constitutes by far the largest and most important 
class of popular tales, is not found in European literature until Stra- 
parola. For a few earlier traces of fairy tales in mediaeval literature, 
see an article by the writer, " Two Mediaeval Folk- Tales," in the Ger- 
mania, XVIII. [New Series], p. 203. 

2. The little that is known of Straparola and a very complete bibli- 
ography of his Piacevoli Notti will be found in an excellent monograph 
entitled, Giovan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio, Inaugural-Dis- 
sertation von F. W. J. Brakelmann aus Soest, Gottingen, 1867. Stra- 
parola's work, especially the unexpurgated editions, is scarce, and the 
student will ordinarily be obliged to consult it in the French transla- 
tion of Louveau and Larivey, of which there is an excellent edition in 
the Bibliotheque Elzevirienne of P. Jannet, Paris, 1857. There is a 
German translation with valuable notes of the marchen contained in 
the Piacevoli Notti by F. W. Val. Schmidt, Berlin, 18 17. Schmidt used, 
without knowing it, an expurgated edition, and translated eighteen in- 
stead of twenty-two popular tales. 

3. The reader will find all the necessary references to Straparola's 
borrowed materials in Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop's History of 
Fiction, pp. 283, 493 ; in Brakelmann's dissertation above cited ; in 
the French version in the Bib. Elzevir, j and in Grimm, II. 477. 

4. A comparison of Straparola's tales with those of Grimm, and an 
analysis of those lacking in Schmidt's translation, will be found in 
Grimm, II. 477-481. 

5. The imitations of Straparola will be found in Dunlop-Liebrecht, p. 
284. It is impossible to say with absolute certainty that Perrault bor- 
rowed his " Chat Botte' ,} and " Peatt d'Ane'''' from Straparola. It is, 
however, quite likely. Perrault's stories appeared 1694-97, and twelve 
editions of the French translation of Straparola had been issued before 
that date. 



320 NOTES. 

6. The few details of Basile's life will be found in Grimm, II. 481, 
Liebrecht's translation, II. p. 316, and Taylor's translation, p. v. An 
article in a recent number of the periodical named from Basile, vol. II. 
p. 17, gives the conflicting testimony of a number of Italian writers as 
to Basile's birth and death. The writer has discovered a mention of 
Basile's burial in the church of St. Sophia at Giugliano, near Naples, 
and in a record of deaths kept in the same town, an entry stating that 
Basile died there on the 23d of February, 1632. The following are all the 
editions of which I can find mention : Naples, 1637, 8vo, 1644, i2mo, 
1645, 1674, 1694 (Graesse), 1697 (Pitre), 1714, 1722, 1728, 1747, 1749 
(Liebrecht), 1788, Collezione di Ttitti i Poemi, etc.; Rome, 1679, 1797 
(Pitre). Italian translations appeared at Naples in 1754, 1769, 1784, 
and 1863, and in Bolognese at Bologna, 1742, 1813, 1872, and at Venice 
in 18 13. The editions used in the preparation of this work will be 
found in the Bibliography. In spite of the numerous editions above 
cited, the Pentamerone is a very scarce work, and the scholar will usu- 
ally have to content himself with Liebrecht's excellent translation. 
Thirty-one of the fifty stories have been admirably translated by John 
Edward Taylor, London, 1848, 1850. The Pentamerone suffered the 
same fate as the Piacevoli Notti. It was not known, for instance, in 
Germany, until Fernow described it in his Romische Studien, Zurich, 
1808, vol. III. pp. 316, 475, although Wieland had taken the material 
for his " Pervonte " from the third story of the first day. 

7. The frame of the Penta?nerone is the story of the " False Bride : " 
see Gonz., Nos. 11, 12; Pitre, No. 13; Imbriani, "']£ Sette Mane- 
Mozzej " and Hahn, Nos. 12, 49. Grimm, II. p. 483, gives the stories 
in the Pent, which have parallels among his own Kinder- und Haus- 
marchen. The notes to Liebrecht's translation are to be suppplemented 
by the same author's additional notes in his translation of Dunlop, p. 

515. 

8. This story is usually printed with Perrault's tales, but its author 
was really Mile. Lhe'ritier. See the latest edition of Perrault's tales, 
Les Contes de Charles Perrault, par Andre" Lefevre, Paris, Lemerre, 
1875, P- xli. 

9. See Dunlop-Liebrecht, p. 408 et seq.j and Grimm, II. p. 489 et 
seq. 

10. References to four of the five stories will be found as follows : 
I., Pitre, vol. IV. pp. 372, 375; II., Pitre, ibid. p. 381 ; III., Nov. fior. 
pp. 93, 112, Pitre, No. 36; V., Pitre, vol. IV. p. 391. The two editions 
of Naples, 1684 and 1751, are extremely scarce and the student will be 
obliged to have recourse to the edition of 1789, contained in the Colle- 
zione di tutti li foeti in lingua Napoletana. 

11. Pitre, vol. I. p. xliii., mentions some other names, as, riimanzi 
by the inhabitants of Termini, and pugaret by the Albanian colonists. 
To these may be added another Milanese appellation, panzanega. 



FAIRY TALES. 32 1 

12. Other endings are given by Imbriana, Pomiglianesi, p. 129 : — 

Cuccurucu, 

No' nee n' e cchiu. 

(Cuccurucu, there is no more.) 

Cuccurucu. 

Ss' 'o vuo' cchiii bello, t' o dice tu. 

(Cuccurucu, if you want it finer, tell it yourself.) See also Pitre, vol. 
I. p. 196, note 2. The most curious introductions and endings are those 
in De Nino, Usi e Costumi abruzzesi, vol. III. There is no general 
formula, but each fiaba has one of its own. Some are meaningless 
jingles, but others are quite extensive poems on religious subjects. 
Among these may be found legends of various saints, St. Nicholas, p. 
335) etc. 

13. An interesting article might be written on the Italian story-tell- 
ers, generally illiterate women, from whose lips the stories in the mod- 
ern collections have been taken down. Some details may be found in 
Pitre, vol. I. p. xvii. (repeated in Ralston's article in Eraser's Maga- 
zine). 

14. Any attempt at an explanation of these facts would lead into the 
vexed question of the origin and diffusion of popular tales in general. 
We cannot refrain, however, from calling attention to a remark by Ne- 
rucci in the preface to his Nov. pop. montalesi, p. v. He thinks that 
the Italian popular tale will be found to have much the same origin as 
the Italian popular poetry, that is, that very much is of a literary origin 
which has usually been deemed popular. This is undoubtedly true of 
many stories ; but may not two versions of a given story, a popular and 
a literary one, have had a source common to both ? A very interesting 
study might be made of the Italian popular tales in their relation to lit- 
erary versions which may be the originals. 

The most valuable contributions to the question of the origin of Ital- 
ian popular tales are those by Pitre in the first volume of his Fiabe, pp. 
xli.-cxlv., and in the same author's Nov. pop. tosc. pp. v.-xxxviii. 



CHAPTER I. 

FAIRY TALES. 



i. This story is a variant of Pitre, No. 17, Marvizia (the name of the 
heroine who was as small as a marva, the mallow plant), in which the 
introduction is wanting. The heroine falls in love with a green bird 
she sees in her garden, and goes in search of it. After many adven- 
tures, she restores the bird to its former human shape and marries it. 
Other Italian versions of the story in the text are : Sicilian, Pitre, No. 
21 



322 NOTES. 

281, Nttovo Saggz'o, V. ; Gonz., No. 15 ; Neapolitan, Pent. II. 9, V. 4; 
Comp., No. 33 (from the Basilicata) ; Roman, Busk, p. 99 ; Tuscan, 
De Gub., Sto. Stefano, No. 14; and Tyrolese, Schneller, No. 13. 

An important trait in the above class is " Tasks set Wife." Besides 
in the above stories, this trait is also found in those belonging to other 
classes : see De Gub., Sto. Stefano, No. 2, and Nov.fior. p. 209. 

Another important trait is the following: When after a long search 
the wife discovers her husband, it is only to find him in the power of a 
second wife, who, however, by various bribes, is induced to permit the 
first wife to spend a night in her husband's chamber. She is unable 
to awaken her husband, who has been drugged by the second wife. 
The third night she succeeds, makes herself known to him, and they 
escape. As an example of this trait, we give in full De Gub., Sto. 
Stefano, No. 14, referred to above. 

XX. SIR FIORANTE, MAGICIAN. 

A woodman had three daughters. Every morning one after the 
other, in turn, carried him his bread to the wood. The father and the 
daughters noticed in a thicket a large snake, which one day asked the 
old man for one of his daughters in marriage, threatening him with 
death if none of them would accept such an offer. The father told his 
daughters of the snake's offer, and the first and second immediately 
refused. If the third had refused too, there would have been no hope 
of salvation for the father ; but for his sake she declared at once that 
snakes had always pleased her, and she thought the snake proposed 
by her father very handsome. At this the snake shook his tail in token 
of great joy, and making his bride mount it, carried her away to the 
midst of a beautiful meadow, where he caused a splendid palace to arise 
while he himself became a handsome man, and revealed himself as Sir 
Fiorante with the red and white stockings. But woe to her if she ever 
disclosed to any one his existence and name ! She would lose him 
forever, unless, to obtain possession of him again, she wore out a pair 
of iron shoes, a staff and a hat, and filled with her tears seven bottles. 
The maiden promised ; but she was a woman ; she went to visit her 
sisters ; one of them wished to know her husband's name, and was so 
cunning that at last her sister told her, but when the poor girl went 
back to see her husband, she found neither husband nor palace. To 
find him again, she was obliged in despair to do penance. She walked 
and walked and walked, and wept unceasingly. She had already filled 
one bottle with tears, when she met an old woman who gave her a fine 
walnut to crack in time of need, and disappeared. When she had 
filled four bottles, she met another old woman, who gave her a hazel- 
nut to crack in time of need, and disappeared. She had filled all seven 
bottles when a third old woman appeared to her, and left her an almond 



FAIRY TALES. 323 

to be cracked in a third case of need, and she, too, disappeared. At 
last the young girl reached the castle of Sir Fiorante, who had taken 
another wife. The girl broke first the walnut, and found in it a beauti- 
ful dress which the second wife wanted herself. The young girl said : 
" You may have it if you will let me sleep with Sir Fiorante." The 
second wife consented, but meanwhile she gave Sir Fiorante some 
opium. In the night, the young girl said: " Sir Fiorante with the red 
and white stockings, I have worn out a pair of iron shoes, the staff and 
the hat, and filled seven bottles with tears, wherefore you must recog- 
nize your first wife." 

He made no answer, for he had taken opium. The next day the girl 
opened the hazel-nut, and out came a dress more beautiful than the 
first ; Sir Fiorante's second wife wanted this, and obtained it on the 
same condition as the first, but took care that Sir Fiorante should take 
some opium before going to bed. The third day, a faithful servant 
asked Sir Fiorante if he had not heard in the night the cries that were 
uttered near him. Sir Fiorante replied, No, but was careful not to take 
any opium the third night, when, having broken the almond and found 
in it a dress of unapproachable beauty, the young girl obtained the 
second wife's consent to sleep anew with Sir Fiorante. The latter pre- 
tended this time to take the opium, but did not. Then he feigned to 
be asleep, but remained awake in order to hear the cries of his aban- 
doned wife, which he could not resist, and began to embrace her. The 
next day they left that palace to the second wife, and departed together 
and went to live in happiness at another more wonderful castle. 

This episode is found in the Pent. V. 3, otherwise not belonging to 
this class ; and in Comp., No. 51, and A T ov.fior. p. 168, which properly 
belong to the formula of " Animal Children." 

Hahn's formula No. 6, in which a maiden sells herself for three costly 
presents, and is obliged to marry the buyer, is sufficiently illustrated by 
Gonz., No. 18, Pitre, No. 105, and Nerucci, No. 50. In the last story 
the person to whom the maiden has sold herself refuses to marry her. 

The wedding torch is found also in Pitre, No. 17, and is clearly a 
survival of the classic custom. The episode in which the birth of the 
child is hindered recalls the myths of Latona and Alcmene, see Koh- 
ler's notes to Gonz., No. 12 (II. p. 210). Other cases of malicious 
arrest of childbirth in popular literature may be found in Child's Eng- 
lish and Scottish Pop. Ballads, Part I. p. 84. Pandora's box is also 
found in Pent. V. 4. 

Copious references to other Europeans versions of our story will be 
found in Kbhler's notes to Gonz., No. 15 (II. 214), and to Blade*, Contes 
pop. rec. en Agenais, p. 145, to which may be added the notes to the 
Grimm stories Nos. 88, 113, 127 ("The Soaring Lark," "The Two 
Kings' Children," and " The Iron Stove "), and Benfey, Pant. I. p. 255. 



324 NOTES. 

2. The lamp lighted at night to enable the wife to see her husband 
is found in Pitre, No. 82, and in a Calabrian story in De Gub., Zool. 
Myth. II. 286-287, where the drop of wax falls on the mirror of the 
sleeping youth. The same incident occurs in the curious story of 
" The Enchanted Palace," in Comp., No. 27, which is simply a reversal 
of the Cupid and Psyche myth, and in which the husband is the curious 
one, and the drop of wax falls on the sleeping wife, and awakens her. 

The " iron shoes " are found in Comp., No. 51 ; Pitre, No. 56; Pent. 
V. 4; De Gub., Sto. Stefano, No. 14; Gradi, Vigilia, p. 26; and Ortoli, 
p. 8. See also Hahn, Nos. 73, 102, and Basque Legends, p. 39. 

3. See Kbhler to Gonz., No. 16; Dunlop-Liebrecht, p. 406 (Anmer- 
kung. 475, and Nachtrag, p. 544) ; Graesse, Sagen-Kreise, p. 380 ; Ben- 
fey, I. 254 ; and Simrock, D. M. pp. 332, 391, 427. 

4. Other Italian versions of this story are : Nerucci, Nos. 33, 59 ; 
Comparetti, No. 27 (Monferrato), mentioned already in Note 2 ; and 
Schneller, No. 13. Pitre, No. 27, has some points of contact also with 
our story. 

5. Nerucci, No. 1, and Nov.fior. p. 319. For the story of " Beauty 
and the Beast " in general, see Ralston's article with this title in the 
Nineteenth Century, No. 22, December, 1878 ; and notes to Schiefner's 
Tibetan Tales, London, 1882, p. xxxvii. 

6. The following versions all contain the episodes of the father ask- 
ing his daughters what gifts he shall bring them, and daughter's tardy 
return to the monster: Busk, p. 115; Gradi, Saggio, p. 189; Compa- 
retti, No. 64 (Montale) ; and Z00L Myth. II. p. 382 (Leghorn), with 
which compare Indian Fairy Tales, p. 292. In Fiabe Mant. No. 24, 
we have father's gifts and sympathetic ring; but the danger to mon- 
ster does not depend on the tardiness of his bride. In Zool. Myth. 
II. p. 381 (Piedmont), we have father's gift ; but danger to monster 
results from wife's revealing his name to her sisters. Schneller, No. 
25, contains the usual introduction (father's gifts), but the monster, a 
snake, accompanies his bride on her visit home, and while they are 
dancing together she steps on his tail and crushes it, whereupon the 
snake becomes a handsome young man. A Sicilian story, " Zafarana " 
(Gonz., No. 9), contains both episodes above mentioned, but otherwise 
differs from the class of stories we are now examining. 

Closely allied with the formula of " Beauty and the Beast " is that 
of "Animal Children." In the latter class the introduction (father's 
gift) is wanting, and also the episode of visit of wife and tardy return. 
The " animal child " is usually born in accordance with a rash wish of 
childless mother that she might have a son, even if he were like one 
of the animals which she happens to see (Hahn, Formula No. 7). 
When the " animal child " is grown up his parents attempt to obtain a 
wife for him ; two of three sisters show their disgust and are killed; 
the third is more prudent, and ultimately disenchants her husband, 



FAIRY TALES. 325 

usually by burning his skin, which he puts on and off at pleasure. The 
typical story of this class is Pitre, No. 56, " The Serpent." To Pitre's 
copious references may be added : Comparetti, No. 9 (Monferrato), in 
which the prince resumes his shape after his third marriage without 
any further means of disenchantment ; No 66 (Monferrato), the prince 
takes off seven skins, and from a dragon becomes a handsome youth. 
In both these stories the prince is enchanted and not born in accord- 
ance with mother's wish. Gianandrea, p. 15, is a version of Comp., 
No. 9. Corazzini, p. 429 (Benevento), belongs more properly to 
" Beauty and the Beast ; " the husband disappears on wife's revealing 
to his mother the secret of his being a handsome youth by night. A 
somewhat similar version is in Prato, No. 4, " // Re Serpente." See 
also Finamore, Nov. pop. abmzzesi, Nos. 6, 21, and Archivio, I. 424 
(Piedmont), 531 (Tuscany); II. 403 (Marches); III. 362 (Abruzzi). 

For other references to this class see Kohler's notes to Widter- 
Wolf, Jahrb. VII. p. 249 ; Benfey, Pant. I. p. 265 et seq.; and notes 
to Grimm, Nos. 108 ("Hans the Hedgehog") and 144 (" The Little 
Ass "). 

7. Other Italian versions may be found in Pitre, No. 38 ; Gonz., No. 
27 ; Pent. II. 2 ; Busk, pp. 46, 57, and 63 ; Fiabe Mant. Nos. 3 and 17 ; 
Nov. tosc. 4; and Schneller, No. 21. Pent. II. 5, contains many 
points of resemblance, although it belongs to the class of " Animal 
Children." 

Two very close non-Italian versions are Asbj., No. 84, " The Green 
Knight" {Tales from the Fjeld, p. 311, "The Green Knight"], and 
Hahn, No. 7, " The Golden Wand." 

An important episode in the above stories is " sick prince and se- 
cret remedy." This is found in stories belonging to other classes, as 
for example in Schneller, 9, 10, 11 ; in 10 the princess is ill, in n there 
is simply the " overheard council of witches ; " Nov.fior. pp. 599, 601 
(princess ill), and Comp., No. 8 (sick prince). 

The above trait is found in the class of stories which may be named 
" True and Untrue," and of which Grimm, No. 107, " The Two Trav- 
ellers," is a good example. Italian versions may be found in Widter- 
Wolf, No. 1 {Jahrb. VII. p. 3); Nerucci, No. 23; Ive, Nozze Ive- 
Lorenzetto, p. 31, "La Curona del Gran Giegno" Non-Italian ver- 
sions will be found in Kohler's notes to Widter-Wolf, and Ive's notes 
to above cited story. 

8. This class is named by Hahn from Genevieve de Brabant, whose 
legend may be found in Diet, des Legendes, p. 396, and, with copious 
references, in D'Ancona's Sacre Rappresentazioni, III. p. 235. 

9. The title of the original is " Lifigghi di lu Cavuliciddaru" " The 
Herb-gatherer's Daughters." 

10. Another Sicilian version is "Re Sonnu," in Pitre, Nuovo Saggio, 
No. I. To the references in Pitre, No. 36, and Gonz., No. 5, may be 



326 NOTES. 

added: Fiabe Mant. No. 14. only as far as abstraction of children are 
concerned and accusation of murder against the mother ; No. 46, a 
poor version, the beginning of which is lost ; Comparetti, Nos. 6 (Ba- 
silicata), and 30 (Pisa); No. 17 (Pisa) is a defective version, the 
search for the marvellous objects being omitted ; another distorted 
version from Monferrato is found in the same collection, No. 25. See 
also Prato, Quattro nov.pop. livornesi, No. 2, and Finamore, No. 39. 
Two of the traits of our story are found in many others ; they are : 
" Sympathetic objects," ring, etc., and " Life-giving ointment or leaves." 
For the former, see notes to next two stories, and in general, Brueyre, 
p. 93 ; for the latter, see Gonz., No. 40 ; Comparetti, No. 32 (see Note 
12) ; Bernoni, Ptmt. III. p. 84. In these stories the life-restoring 
substance is an ointment ; leaves possessing the same power are found 
in Pitre, No. 11, Pent. I. 7, La Posillechejata, No. 1, and Coronedi- 
Berti, No. 14. See also Grimm, No. 16, " The Three Snake-Leaves ; " 
Basque Legends, p. 117 ; Benfey, Pant. I. 454, Cox, Aryan Myth. I. 
160; and Germania, XXI. p. 68. For non-Italian versions of the story 
in the text see Kohler's notes in Melusine, p. 213, to a Breton version, 
and Lndian Fairy Tales, pp. 242, 277. 

In the above formula are embraced several somewhat different sto- 
ries in which the persecution of innocent wife proceeds from various 
persons. For instance, in the Italian legends Sta. Guglielma is perse- 
cuted by her brother-in-law ; Sta. Ulila by her father and mother-in- 
law ; and Stella by her stepmother. See D'Ancona, op. cit., pp. 199, 
2 35> 3 l 7- A popular version, somewhat distorted, of the second of the 
above-mentioned legends may be found in Nerucci, No. 39; of the 
third in Gonz., No. 24. 

More commonly, however, the persecution is on the part of envious 
sisters or wicked stepmother. The important role played by the last 
in tales of the North of Europe has its counterpart in those of the 
South. The following story from Siena (Pitre, La Scatola di Cris- 
talld) will sufficiently illustrate this class. 

XXI. THE CRYSTAL CASKET. 

There was once a widower who had a daughter. This daughter was 
between ten and twelve years old. Her father sent her to school, and 
as she was all alone in the world commended her always to her teacher. 
Now, the teacher, seeing that the child had no mother, fell in love with 
the father, and kept saying to the girl : " Ask your father if he would 
like me for a wife." This she said to her every day, and at last the 
girl said : " Papa, the school-mistress is always asking me if you will 
marry her." The father said : " Eh ! my daughter, if I take another 
wife, you will have great troubles." But the girl persisted, and finally 
the father was persuaded to go one evening to the school-mistress' 



FAIRY TALES. 327 

house. When she saw him she was well pleased, and they settled the 
marriage in a few days. Poor child ! how bitterly she had to repent 
having found a stepmother so ungrateful and cruel to her ! She sent 
her every day out on a terrace to water a pot of basil, and it was so 
dangerous that if she fell she would go into a large river. 

One day there came by a large eagle, and said to her : " What are 
you doing here ? " She was weeping because she saw how great the 
danger was of falling into the stream. The eagle said to her : " Get 
on my back, and I will carry you away, and you will be happier than 
with your new mamma." After a long journey they reached a great 
plain, where they found a beautiful palace all of crystal ; the eagle 
knocked at the door and said : " Open, my ladies, open ! for I have 
brought you a pretty girl." When the people in the palace opened the 
door, and saw that lovely girl, they were amazed, and kissed and 
caressed her. Meanwhile the door was closed, and they remained 
peaceful and contented. 

Let us return to the eagle, who thought she was doing a spite to the 
stepmother. One day the eagle flew away to the terrace where the 
stepmother was watering the basil. " Where is your daughter ? " asked 
the eagle. " Eh ! " she replied, "perhaps she fell from this terrace and 
went into the river ; I have not heard from her in ten days." The 
eagle answered : " What a fool you are ! I carried her away ; seeing 
that you treated her so harshly I carried her away to my fairies, and 
she is very well." Then the eagle flew away. 

The stepmother, filled with rage and jealousy, called a witch from 
the city, and said to her : " You see my daughter is alive, and is in the 
house of some fairies of an eagle which often comes upon my terrace ; 
now you must do me the favor to find some way to kill this stepdaughter 
of mine, for I am afraid that some day or other she will return, and my 
husband, discovering this matter, will certainly kill me." The witch 
answered : " Oh, you need not be afraid of that : leave it to me." 

What did the witch do ? She had made a little basketful of sweet- 
meats, in which she put a charm ; then she wrote a letter, pretending 
that it was her father, who, having learned where she was, wished to 
make her this present, and the letter pretended that her father was so 
glad to hear that she was with the fairies. 

Let us leave the witch who is arranging all this deception, and return 
to Ermellina (for so the young girl was named). The fairies had said 
to her : " See, Ermellina, we are going away, and shall be absent four 
days ; now in this time take good care not to open the door to any one, 
for some treachery is being prepared for you by your stepmother." 
She promised to open the door to no one : " Do not be anxious, I am 
well off, and my stepmother has nothing to do with me." But it was 
not so. The fairies went away, and the next day when Ermellina was 
alone, she heard a knocking at the door, and said to herself : " Knock 



328 NOTES. 

away ! I don't open to any one." But meanwhile the blows redoubled, 
and curiosity forced her to look out of the window. What did she see ? 
She saw one of the servant girls of her own home (for the witch had 
disguised herself as one of her father's servants). " O my dear Ermel- 
lina," she said, " your father is shedding tears of sorrow for you, 
because he really believed you were dead, but the eagle which carried 
you off came and told him the good news that you were here with the 
fairies. Meanwhile your father, not knowing what civility to show you, 
for he understands very well that you are in need of nothing, has 
thought to send you this little basket of sweetmeats." Ermellina had 
not yet opened the door ; the servant begged her to come down and 
take the basket and the letter, but she said : " No, I wish nothing ! " 
but finally, since women, and especially young girls, are fond of sweet- 
meats, she descended and opened the door. When the witch had given 
her the basket, she said : " Eat this," and broke off for her a piece of 
the sweetmeats which she had poisoned. When Ermellina took the 
first mouthful the old woman disappeared. Ermellina had scarcely 
time to close the door, when she fell down on the stairs. 

When the fairies returned they knocked at the door, but no one 
opened it for them ; then they perceived that there had been some 
treachery, and began to weep. Then the chief of the fairies said : 
" We must break open the door," and so they did, and saw Ermellina 
dead on the stairs. Her other friends who loved her so dearly begged 
the chief of the fairies to bring her to life, but she would not, " for," 
said she, " she has disobeyed me ; " but one and the other asked her 
until she consented ; she opened Ermellina's mouth, took out a piece 
of the sweetmeat which she had not yet swallowed, raised her up, and 
Ermellina came to life again. 

We can imagine what a pleasure it was for her friends ; but the chief 
of the fairies reproved her for her disobedience, and she promised not 
to do so again. 

Once more the fairies were obliged to depart. Their chief said : 
" Remember, Ermellina : the first time I cured you, but the second I 
will have nothing to do with you." Ermellina said they need not worry, 
that she would not open to any one. But it was not so ; for the eagle, 
thinking to increase her stepmother's anger, told her again that Ermel- 
lina was alive. The stepmother denied it all to the eagle, but she 
summoned anew the witch, and told her that her stepdaughter was still 
alive, saying : " Either you will really kill her, or I will be avenged on 
you." The old woman, finding herself caught, told her to buy a very 
handsome dress, one of the handsomest she could find, and transformed 
herself into a tailoress belonging to the family, took the dress, de- 
parted, went to poor Ermellina, knocked at the door and said : " Open, 
open, for I am your tailoress." Ermellina looked out of the window 
and saw her tailoress ; and was, in truth, a little confused (indeed, any 



FAIRY TALES. 329 

one would have been so). The tailoress said, " Come down, I must 
fit a dress on you." She replied, " No, no ; for I have been deceived 
once." " But I am not the old woman," replied the tailoress, " you 
know me, for I have always made your dresses." Poor Ermellina was 
persuaded, and descended the stairs ; the tailoress took to flight while 
Ermellina was yet buttoning up the dress, and disappeared. Ermellina 
closed the door, and was mounting the stairs ; but it was not permitted 
her to go up, for she fell down dead. 

Let us return to the fairies, who came home and knocked at the door ; 
but what good did it do to knock ! There was no longer any one there. 
They began to weep. The chief of the fairies said : " I told you that 
she would betray me again ; but now I will have nothing more to do 
with her." So they broke open the door, and saw the poor girl with 
that beautiful dress on ; but she was dead. They all wept, because they 
really loved her. But there was nothing to do ; the chief struck her 
enchanted wand, and commanded a beautiful rich casket all covered 
with diamonds and other precious stones to appear; then the others 
made a beautiful garland of flowers and gold, put it on the young girl, 
and then laid her in the casket, which was so rich and beautiful that it 
was marvellous to behold. Then the old fairy struck her wand as usual 
and commanded a handsome horse, the like of which not even the king 
possessed. Then they took the casket, put it on the horse's back, and 
led him into the public square of the city, and the chief of the fairies 
said : " Go, and do not stop until you find some one who says to you : 
' Stop, for pity's sake, for I have lost my horse for you.' " 

Now let us leave the afflicted fairies, and turn our attention to the 
horse, which ran away at full speed. Who happened to pass at that 
moment ? The son of a king (the name of this king is not known) ; 
and saw this horse with that wonder on its back. Then the kino- be°-an 
to spur his horse, and rode him so hard that he killed him, and had to 
leave him dead in the road ; but the king kept running after the other 
horse. The poor king could endure it no longer ; he saw himself lost, 
and exclaimed : " Stop, for pity's sake, for I have lost my horse for 
you ! " Then the horse stopped (for those were the words). When 
the king saw that beautiful girl dead in the casket, he thought no more 
about his own horse, but took the other to the city. The king's mother 
knew that her son had gone hunting; when she saw him returning with 
this loaded horse, she did not know what to think. The son had no 
father, wherefore he was all powerful. He reached the palace, had 
the horse unloaded, and the casket carried to his chamber ; then he 
called his mother and said : " Mother, I went hunting, but I have found 
a wife." " But what is it ? A doll ? A dead woman ? " " Mother," 
replied her son, " don't trouble yourself about what it is, it is my wife." 
His mother began to laugh, and withdrew to her own room (what could 
she do, poor mother ?). 



330 NOTES. 

Now this poor king no longer went hunting, took no diversion, did 
not even go to the table, but ate in his own room. By a fatality it hap- 
pened that war was declared against him, and he was obliged to de- 
part. He called his mother, and said : " Mother, I wish two careful 
chambermaids, whose business it shall be to guard this casket ; for if 
on my return I find that anything has happened to my casket, I shall 
have the chambermaids killed." His mother, who loved him, said : 
" Go, my son, fear nothing, for I myself will watch over your casket." 
He wept several days at being obliged to abandon this treasure of his, 
but there was no help for it, he had to go. 

After his departure he did nothing but commend his wife (so he 
called her) to his mother in his letters. Let us return to the mother, 
who no longer thought about the matter, not even to have the casket 
dusted ; but all at once there came a letter which informed her that 
the king had been victorious, and should return to his palace in a few 
days. The mother called the chambermaids, and said to them : 
" Girls, we are ruined." They replied : " Why, Highness ? " " Be- 
cause my son will be back in a few days, and how have we taken care 
of the doll ? " They said : " True, true ; now let us go and wash the 
doll's face." They went to the king's room and saw that the doll's 
face and hands were covered with dust and fly-specks, so they took a 
sponge and washed her face, but some drops of water fell on her dress 
and spotted it. The poor chambermaids began to weep, and went to 
the queen for advice. The queen said : " Do you know what to do ! 
call a tailoress, and have a dress precisely like this bought, and take 
off this one before my son comes." They did so, and the chamber- 
maids went to the room and began to unbutton the dress. The mo- 
ment that they took off the first sleeve, Ermellina opened her eyes. 
The poor chambermaids sprang up in terror, but one of the most 
courageous said: " I am a woman, and so is this one; she will not eat 
me." To cut the matter short, she took off the dress, and when it was 
removed Ermellina began to get out of the casket to walk about and 
see where she was. The chambermaids fell on their knees before 
her and begged her to tell them who she was. She, poor girl, told 
them the whole story. Then she said: "I wish to know where I 
am ? " Then the chambermaids called the king's mother to explain 
it to her. The mother did not fail to tell her everything, and she, poor 
girl, did nothing but weep penitently, thinking of what the fairies had 
done for her. 

The king was on the point of arriving, and his mother said to the 
doll : " Come here ; put on one of my best dresses." In short, she 
arrayed her like a queen. Then came her son. They shut the doll 
up in a small room, so that she could not be seen. The king came 
with great joy, with trumpets blowing, and banners flying for the vic- 
tory. But he took no interest in all this, and ran at once to his room 



FAIRY TALES. 33 1 

to see the doll ; the chambermaids fell on their knees before him say- 
ing that the doll smelled so badly that they could not stay in the pal- 
ace, and were obliged to bury her. The king would not listen to this 
excuse, but at once called two of the palace servants to erect the gal- 
lows. His mother comforted him in vain : " My son, it was a dead 
woman." " No, no, I will not listen to any reasons ; dead or alive, 
you should have left it for me." Finally, when his mother saw that he 
was in earnest about the gallows, she rang a little bell, and there came 
forth no longer the doll, but a very beautiful girl, whose like was never 
seen. The king was amazed, and said : " What is this ! " Then his 
mother, the chambermaids, and Ermellina, were obliged to tell him all 
that had happened. He said : " Mother, since I adored her when 
dead, and called her my wife, now I mean her to be my wife in truth." 
" Yes, my son," replied his mother, " do so, for I am willing." They 
arranged the wedding, and in a few days were man and wife. 

Sicilian versions of this story may be found in Pitre, Nos. 57, 58 ; 
Gonz., Nos. 2-4. To the copious references in the notes to the stories 
just mentioned may be added : Fiabe Mant. No. 28 ; Ttiscan Fairy 
Tales, No. IX. ; Nov. fior. pp. 232, 239 ; De Nino, XLL, XLIX., L. ; 
Nov. tosc. 9. Other European versions are : Grimm, No. 53, " Little 
Snow-White;" Hahn, No. 103; Lo Rondallayre, No. 46: see also 
Kohler's notes to Gonz., Nos. 2-4. 

The last class of " stepmother" stories which we shall mention is 
Hahn's Formula 15, " Phryxos and Helle," in which both brother and 
sister are persecuted by stepmother. A good example of this class is 
Pitre, No. 283. 

XXII. THE STEPMOTHER. 
There was once a husband and a wife who had two children, a son 
and a daughter. The wife died, and the husband married a woman 
who had a daughter blind of one eye. The husband was a farmer, and 
went to work in a field. The stepmother hated her husband's chil- 
dren, and to get rid of them she baked some bread, and sent it by them 
to her husband, but directed them to the wrong field, so that they 
might get lost. When the children reached a mountain they began to 
call their father, but no one answered. Now the girl was enchanted ; 
and when they came to a spring and the brother wanted to drink, she 
said to him : " Do not drink of this fountain, or you will become an 
ass." Afterwards they found another spring, and the brother wanted 
to drink ; but his sister said to him : " Do not drink of it, or you will 
become a calf." However, the boy would drink, and became a calf 
with golden horns. They continued their journey, and came to the 
seashore, where there was a handsome villa belonging to the prince. 
When the prince saw the young girl, and beheld how beautiful she 



332 NOTES. 

was, he married her, and afterwards asked her what there was about 
the little calf, and she replied : " I am fond of him because I have 
brought him up." 

Let us now return to her father, who, from the great grief he had on 
account of his children's disappearance, had gone out to divert him- 
self, and wandered away, gathering fennel. He arrived at last at the 
villa, where was his daughter who had married the king. His daugh- 
ter looked out of the window and said to him : " Come up, friend." 
His daughter had recognized him, and asked : " Friend, do you not 
know me ? " " No, I do not recognize you." Then she said : " I am 
your daughter, whom you believed lost." She threw herself at his 
feet, and said : " Pardon me, dear father ; I came by chance to this 
villa, and the king's son was here and married me." The father was 
greatly consoled at finding his daughter so well married. " Now, my 
father," said she, " empty this sack of fennel, for I will fill it with gold 
for you." And then she begged him to bring his wife, and the daugh- 
ter blind of one eye. The father returned home with his bag full of 
money, and his wife asked in terror: "Who gave you this money?" 
He answered : " O wife ! do you know that I have found my daugh- 
ter, and she is the king's wife, and filled this bag with money ? " She, 
instead of being happy, was angry at hearing that her stepdaughter 
was still alive ; however, she said to her husband : " I will go and take 
my daughter." So they went, the husband, the wife, and the blind 
daughter, and came to the husband's daughter, who received her step- 
mother very kindly. But the latter, seeing that the king was away, 
and that her stepdaughter was alone, seized her and threw her from a 
window into the sea ; and what did she do then ? She took her blind 
daughter and dressed her in the other's clothes, and said to her: 
" When the king comes and finds you here weeping, say to him : ' The 
little calf has blinded me with his horn, and I have only one eye ! ' " 
Then the stepmother returned to her own house. The king came and 
found her daughter in bed weeping, and said to her : " Why are you 
weeping ? " " The little calf struck me with his horn and put out one 
of my eyes." The king cried at once : "Go call the butcher to kill 
the calf ? " When the calf heard that he was to be killed, he went out 
on the balcony and called to his sister in the sea : — 

"Oh! sister, 
For me the water is heated, 
And the knives are sharpened." 

The sister replied from the sea : — 

" Oh ! brother, I cannot help you, 
I am in the dog-fish's mouth." 

When the king heard the calf utter these words, he looked out of the 
window, and when he saw his wife in the sea, he summoned two sail- 



FAIRY TALES. 333 

ors, and had them take her out and bring her up and restore her. 
Then he took the blind girl and killed her and cut her in pieces and 
salted her like tunny-fish, and sent her to her mother. When her hus- 
band found it out he left her and went to live with his daughter. 

It may not be amiss to mention here another class of stories which 
come under the formula of " Persecuted Maiden." The class resem- 
bles in some respects the story of King Lear. The youngest daughter 
is persecuted by her father because he thinks she does not love him as 
much as her older sisters. A good example of this class is Pitre, No. 
10, DAcqua e lu Salt, 

XXIII. WATER AND SALT. 

A very fine story is related and told to your worships. Once upon 
a time there was a king with three daughters. These three daughters 
being at table one day, their father said : " Come now, let us see which 
of you three loves me." The oldest said : " Papa, I love you as much 
as my eyes." The second answered : " I love you as much as my 
heart." The youngest said : " I love you as much as water and salt." 
The king heard her with amazement : " Do you value me like water 
and salt ? Quick ! call the executioners, for I will have her killed im- 
mediately." The other sisters privately gave the executioners a little 
dog, and told them to kill it and rend one of the youngest sister's gar- 
ments, but to leave her in a cave. This they did, and brought back to 
the king the dog's tongue and the rent garment : " Royal Majesty, 
here is her tongue and garment." And his Majesty gave them a re- 
ward. The unfortunate princess was found in the forest by a magician, 
who took her to his house opposite the royal palace. Here the king's 
son saw her and fell desperately in love with her, and the match was 
soon agreed upon. Then the magician came and said : " You must 
kill me the day before the wedding. You must invite three kings, your 
father the first. You must order the servants to pass water and salt 
to all the guests except your father." Now let us return to the father 
of this young girl, who the longer he lived the more his love for her 
increased, and he was sick of grief. When he received the invitation 
he said : " And how can I go with this love for my daughter ? " And 
he would not go. Then he thought: "But this king will be offended 
if I do not go, and will declare war against me some time." He ac- 
cepted and went. The day before the wedding they killed the magician 
and quartered him, and put a quarter in each of four rooms, and sprinkled 
his blood in all the rooms and on the stairway, and the blood and flesh 
became gold and precious stones. When the three kings came and 
saw the golden stairs, they did not like to step on them. " Never 
mind," said the prince, "go up : this is nothing." That evening they 



334 NOTES. 

were married : the next day they had a banquet. The prince gave or- 
ders : " No salt and water to that king." They sat down at table, and 
the young queen was near her father, but he did not eat. His daugh- 
ter said : " Royal Majesty, why do you not eat ? Does not the food 
please you ? " " What an idea ! It is very fine." " Why don't you 
eat then ?" "I don't feel very well." The bride and groom helped 
him to some bits of meat, but the king did not want it, and chewed his 
food over and over again like a goat (as if he could eat it without salt !). 
When they finished eating they began to tell stories, and the king told 
them all about his daughter. She asked him if he could still recognize 
her, and stepping out of the room put on the same dress she wore 
when he sent her away to be killed. " You caused me to be killed be- 
cause I told you I loved you as much as salt and water : now you have 
seen what it is to eat without salt and water." Her father could not 
say a word, but embraced her and begged her pardon. They remained 
happy and contented, and here we are with nothing. 

A Venetian version (Bernoni, No. 14) is translated in the Cornhill 
Magazine, July, 1875, p. 80, a Bolognese version may be found in Co- 
ronedi-Berti, No. 5, and from the Abruzzi in Finamore, Nos. 18, 26. 
Compare also Pomiglianesi, p. 42. For transmutation of magician's 
body see Zool. Myth. I. p. 123, Benfey, Pant. I. pp. 477, 478, Ralston, 
R. F. T. p. 223, and Indian Fairy Tales, p. 164. 

Other Sicilian versions are in Gonz., Nos. 48, 49. A Neapolitan is in 
Pent. V. 8; a Mantuan, in Fiabe Mant. No. 16 ; a Tuscan, xn. Archivio 
per le Trad. pop. I. p. 44, and one from the Abruzzi in Archivio, III. 
546. The same story is in Grimm, Nos. II and 141. "The Little 
Brother and Sister " and " The Little Lamb and the Little Fish." See 
also Hahn, No. 1. The latter part of the story is connected with 
" False Bride." See note 21 of this chapter. 

11. Other Italian versions are: Pitre, No. 20; Pent. II. 1; Pomi- 
glianesi, pp. 121, 130, 136, 188, 191; Busk, p. 3; Nov. fior. p. 209; 
Gargiolli, No. 2; Fiabe Mant. No. 20; Bernoni, No. 12; Archivio, I. 
525 (Tuscan), III. 368 (Abruzzi), and De Nino, XX. Some points of 
resemblance are found also in Pent. V. 4; Coronedi-Berti, No. 8; and 
Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 12. 

Other stories in which children are promised to ogre, demon, etc., 
are to be found in Pitre, No. 31, Widter-Wolf, No. XIII., and in the 
various versions of the story of " Liombruno." See Chap. II., note 13. 

For other European versions of the story in the text, see Ralston's 
R. F. T. p. 141; Grimm, No. 12, " Rapunzel," and Basque Legends, p. 
59. For child promised to demon, see Romania, No. 28, p. 531; Grimm, 
Nos. 31 ("The Girl Without Hands") 55, ("Rumpelstiltskin ") 92, 
("The King of the Golden Mountain "), and 181 ("The Nix of the 
Mill-Pond "). See also Hahn, I. p. 47, No. 8. 



FAIRY TALES. 335 

Some of the incidents of this story are found in those belonging to 
other classes. The girl's face changed to that of dog, etc., is in Com- 
paretti, No. 3 (furnished with a long beard), and Finamore, Trad. pop. 
abruzzesi, No. 1, Pent. I. 8 (goat), Nerucci, Nos. 30 (sheep's neck), 
37 (buffalo), and Nov. pop. toscani, in Archivio per la Trad. pop. No. 1 
(goat). For "flight and obstacles," see Nov.fior. pp. 12, 415, Pent. II. 

1, and stories cited by Pitre in his notes to No. 13, also note 25 to this 
chapter, Basque Legends, p. 120, Orient tend Occident, II. p. 103, and 
Brueyre, p. n 1. For "ladder of hair," see Pomiglianesi, p. 126. 

12. Other Italian versions are : Pent. I. 9; Gonz., Nos. 39, 40; Com- 
paretti, No. 46 (Basilicata) ; De Gub., Sto. Stefano, Nos. 17, 18 ; Fina- 
more, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 22 ; De Nino, LXV. ; Nov. fior, pp. 
375> 387 (Milan); Coronedi-Berti, No. 16; Fiabe Mant. No. 19; and 
Schneller, No. 28. This story, as far as the two brothers (not born 
miraculously) and liberation of princess are concerned, is in Pent. I. 
7, and Widter-Wolf, No. 8. 

References to other European versions may be found in the Ro- 
mania, Nos. 19, pp. 336, 339; 28, p. 563; 32, p. 606: Orient und Occi- 
dent, II. p. 115 (Kohler to Campbell, No. 4), and Blade, Agenais, No. 
2 (p. 148). 

As regards the separate traits, as usual many of them are found in 
other classes of stories : the cloud occurs in Comp., No. 40 ; children 
born from fish, De Gub., Zool. Myth. II. 29; for sympathetic objects 
and life-giving ointment, see last two stories. For " kindness to ani- 
mals," and "thankful beasts," see Fiabe Mant. Nos. 37, 26, Gonz., No. 

6, and the stories belonging to the class " Giant with no heart in his 
body " mentioned below. The gratitude and help of an animal form 
the subject of some independent stories, e. g., Strap. III. 1; Pent. I. 
3 ; and Gonz., No. 6, above mentioned ; and are also found in the for- 
mula " Animal Brothers-in-law." See note 23. For European versions 
see Orient und Occident, II. p. 101 ; Brueyre, p. 98 ; Ralston, R. F. T. 
p. 98; Benfey, Pant. I. p. 193 et seq.j Basque Legends, p. 81, and 
Zool. Myth. I. p. 197; II. 45. For transformation into statues, see 
stories mentioned in note 10, Bernoni, Punt. III. p. 89, Nov.fior. p. 
112, and Ortoli, pp. 10, 34. 

The most interesting episode, however, is that of "Magician (or 
Giant) with no heart in his body" (see Chap. III., note 8), which is in 
the following Italian tales: Pitre, No. 81, Busk, p. 158; Nov.fior. pp. 

7, 347; Gonz., Nos. 6, 16; Fiabe Mant. No. 37; and Pomiglianesi, No. 

2, p. 21 (v. p. 41). For other references, see Basque Legends, p. 83; 
Brueyre, pp. 81-83 ; Ralston, R. F. T., Am. ed., pp. 1 19-125; Orient 
und Occident, II. p. 101 ; Hahn, I. p. 56, No. 31 ; and Romania, No. 
22, p. 234. See also note 18 of this chapter. 

The story in our text is not a good example of Hahn's Form. 13, 
" Andromeda, or Princess freed from Dragon." Some of the other 



336 NOTES. 

stories cited are much better, notably Widter-Wolf, No. 8, Gonz., Nos. 
39, 40, and also Strap., X. 3, and Schneller, No. 39. Hahn's Danae 
Form. 12 is represented by Nov. tosc. No. 30. The allied myth of 
Medusa by Nov. tosc. No. 1, and Archivio, I. p. 57. 

13. Versions of this wide-spread story are in Pitre, Otto Fiabe, No. 
1 ; Gonz., Nos. 58, 59, 61, 62, 63 (partly), and 64 ; Kohler, Italien 
Volksm. (Sora) No. 1, "Die drei Briider und die drei befreiten K'6- 
nigsfochter" (jahrb. VIII. p. 241) ; Widter-Wolf, No. 4 {Jahrb. VII. 
p. 20) ; Schneller, No. 39 ; Nov.Jior. p. 70, and De Gub., Zobl. Myth. 
II. 187 (Tuscan). Part of our story is also found in Schneller, pp. 
188-192, and Pitre, Nos. 83, 84 (var.). To these references, which are 
given by Pitre, maybe added the following: Comparetti, Nos. 19 (Mon- 
ferrato) partly, 35 (Monferrato), and 40 (Pisa) ; De Gub., Sto. Stefano, 
No. 19; Fiabe Mant. Nos. 18, 32 (the latter part), 49 (partly) ; Tuscan 
Fahy Tales, No. 3 ; Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 29 ; and Nov. 
tosc. No. 3. 

The trait "underground world" is also found in Busk, p. 141. 
These stories illustrate sufficiently Hahn's Form. 40, " Descent into 
the Nether World." 

14. To the stories in Note 13 containing " liberation of hero by 
eagle " may be added Comparetti, No. 24 (Monferrato). See in gen- 
eral : De Gub., Zobl. Myth. II. 186; Benfey, Pant. I. pp. 216, 388; 
Rivista Orientate, I. p. 27; Orient utid Occident, II. p. 299; and 
Basque Legends, p. no. 

15. Another version from Avellino is in the same collection, p. 201. 
Other Italian versions are : Pitre, No. 79; Gonz., No. 51 ; De Gub., 
Sto. Stefano, No. 20 ; De Nino, No. 2 ; Comparetti, No. 28 (Monfer- 
rato) ; Ive, Fiabe pop. rovignesi, p. 20; No. 3, "El Pumo de tcoroj" 
Schneller, No. 51 ; and Corazzini, p. 455 (Benevento). 

In general see Ive's and Kohler's notes to stories above cited, and 
Romania, No. 24, p. 565. The corresponding Grimm story is No. 28, 
" The Singing Bone." 

16. Other Italian versions are : Pitre, Nos. 41, 42 ; Pent. I. 6; Busk, 
pp. 26, 31; Comp., No. 23 (Pisa): Fiabe Mant. No. 45 ; Nov.Jior. 
p. 162 (Milan) ; Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. II. ; and Ar- 
chivio, II. 185 (Sardinia). 

Schneller, No. 24, and Bernoni, No. 8, are connecting links between 
" Cinderella " and " Allerleirauh." In the former, Cinderella's father 
asks his three daughters what present he shall make them. Cinderella 
asks for a sword, and shortly after leaves her home and obtains a situ- 
ation in a city as servant. In the palace opposite lives a young count, 
with whom Cinderella falls in love. She obtains a situation in his 
house. Her sword, which is enchanted, gives her beautiful dresses, 
and she goes to the balls as in the other versions. The third even- 
ing the count slips a costly ring on her finger, which Cinderella uses 



FAIRY TALES. 337 

to identify herself with. Bernoni, No. 8, is substantially the same. 
After the death of their mother and father Cinderella's sisters treat 
her cruelly, and she obtains a place as servant in the king's palace, and 
is aided by the fairies, who take pity upon her. She is identified by 
means of a ring, and also by her diamond slipper, which she throws to 
the servants, who are following her to see where she lives. 

European versions will be found in the notes to Grimm, No. 21 
(" Cinderella "), and W. R. S. Ralston's article, " Cinderella," in the 
Nineteenth Century, November, 1879. 

17. Other Italian versions are: Pitre, No. 43; Gonz., 38 ; Pent. II. 
6 ; Busk, pp. 66, 84, 90, 91 ; Comparetti, No. 57 (Montale) ; De Gub., 
Sto. Stefano, No. 3 (see also Rivista di Lett. Pop. I. p. 86) ; Gradi, 
Saggio, p. 141 ; Fiabe Mant. No. 38 ; Nov.fior. p. 158 (Milan), Fina- 
more, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 3; De Nino, No. 17, and Archivio, 
I. 190 (Tuscan)'), II. 26 (Sardinia). Straparola, I. 4, contains the first 
part of our story, which is also partly found in Coronedi-Berti, No. 3, 
and Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 13. 

The gifts, which in the story in the text are given the day of the 
wedding, in the other versions are bestowed before marriage by father, 
in order to overcome daughter's opposition. The recognition by 
means of ring is found in the last two stories mentioned in Note 16, 
in Fiabe Mant. No. 38, above- cited, and Nov.fior. p. 158 (Milan). 
See also Grimm, Nos. 93 ("The Raven"), 101 ("Bearskin") ; Hahn, 
No. 25; Asbj., No. 71 {Tales from the Fjeld, p. 130) ; and Romania, 
No. 23, p. 359. 

Other European versions of our story will be found mentioned in 
the notes to Grimm, No. 65 (" Allerleirauh "), to Gonz., No. 38 (II. 
229); Orient und Occident, II. 295; D'Ancona, Sacre Rappresent. 
III. 238 ; Romania, No. 24, 571; Basque Legends,^. 165, and Rals- 
ton's R. F. T. p. 159. 

18. See Gonz., No. 26, and Widter-Wolf, No. 8 (Jahrb. VII. p. 128). 
For story in general, see notes to stories just cited, and Cox, Aryan 

Myth. vol. I. p. 224; II. p. 261, "The Myth of Nisos and Skylla;" 
Hahn, I. p. 52 ; and De Gub., Zool. Myth. I. p. 211 et seq. 

19. Pitre, in his notes to No. 71, gives two variants of his story, and 
mentions a Piedmontese version yet unpublished. Comparetti, No. 54, 
an analysis of which is given in the text, represents sufficiently Hahn's 
Form. No. 37, " Strong Hans." 

20. In the version in Pent. IV. 8, after the seven sons have disap- 
peared, their sister goes in search of them, finds, them, and they all 
live happily together until by her fault they are changed into doves, 
and she is obliged to go to the house of the Mother of Time and learn 
from her the mode of disenchantment. In a story in Pitre, No. 73, a 
husband threatens to kill his wife if she does not give birth to a male 
child. 



338 NOTES. 

For other European versions of our story, see Grimm, No. 9, " The 
Twelve Brothers ; " No. 25, " The Seven Ravens ; " and No. 49, " The 
Six Swans ; " Melusine, p. 419, and Basque Legends, p. 186. Part of 
the story in text belongs to the Genevieve formula, see notes 8, 10, of 
this chapter. 

21. The first trait, " Two Sisters," is also found as an independent 
story, see Chap. II., p. 100, and note 2. " Substitution of false bride " 
is found without " Two Sisters " in Comp., Nos. 53 (Montale) and 68 
(Montale) ; Fiabe Mant. No. 16 ; and Gradi, Saggio, p. 141. See note 
10 of this chapter. The best example of "substitution " is, as we have 
said before, Grimm, No. 89, " The Goose-Girl ; " see also Romania, 
No. 24, p. 546. The same trait is found also in a very extensive and 
interesting class of stories which may be termed, from the usual titles 
of the stories, "The Three Citrons," some of the versions of which be- 
long to " Forgotten Bride." We give here, however, a version belong- 
ing to the class above-mentioned, and which we have taken, on account 
of its rarity, from Ive, Fiabe pop. rovignesi, p. 3. 

XXIV. THE LOVE OF THE THREE ORANGES. 

Once upon a time there was a king and queen who had a half-witted 
son. The queen was deeply grieved at this, and she thought to go to 
the Lord and ask counsel of him what she was to do with this son. 
The Lord told her to try and do something to make him laugh. She 
replied : " I have nothing but a jar of oil, unfortunately for me ! " The 
Lord said to her : "Well, give this oil away in charity, for there will 
come many people ; some bent, some straight, some humpbacked, and 
it may happen that your son will laugh." So the queen proclaimed 
that she had a jar of oil, and that all could come and take some. And 
everybody, indeed, hurried there and took the oil down to the last 
drop. Last of all came an old witch, who begged the queen to give 
her a little, saying : " Give me a little oil, too ! " The queen replied : 
" Ah, it is all gone, there is no more ! " The queen was angry and 
full of spite because her son had not yet laughed. The old witch said 
again to the queen : " Let me look in the jar ! " The queen opened 
the jar, and the old woman got inside of it and was all covered with 
the dregs of the oil ; and the queen's son laughed, and laughed, and 
laughed. The old woman came out, saw the prince laughing, and said 
to him : " May you never be happy until you go and find the Love of 
the three Oranges." The son, all eager, said to his mother : " Ah, 
mother, I shall have no more peace until I go and find the Love of the 
three Oranges." She answered : " My dear son, how will you go and 
find the Love of the three Oranges ?" But he would go ; so he mounted 
his horse and rode and rode and rode until he came to a large gate. 
He knocked, and some one within asked : " Who is there ? " He re- 



FAIRY TALES. 339 

plied : " A soul created by God." The one within said : " In all the 
years that I have been here no one has ever knocked at this gate." 
The prince repeated : " Open, for I am a soul created by God ! " Then 
an old man came down and opened the gate. He had eyelids that 
reached to his feet, and he said : " My son, take down those little 
forks, and lift up my eyelids." The prince did so, and the old man 
asked : " Where are you going, my son, in this direction ? " "I am 
going to find the Love of the three Oranges." The old man an- 
swered : " So many have gone there and never returned ! Do you 
wish not to return, too ? My son, take these twigs ; you will meet 
some witches who are sweeping out their oven with their hands ; give 
them these twigs, and they will let you pass." The prince very grate- 
fully took the twigs, mounted his horse and rode away. He journeyed 
a long time, and at last saw in the distance the witches of immense 
size who were coming towards him. He threw them the twigs, and 
they allowed him to pass. 

He continued his journey, and arrived at a gate larger than the first. 
Here the same thing occurred as at the first one, and the old man said : 
" Well ! since you will go, too, take these ropes, on your way you will 
encounter some witches drawing water with their tresses ; throw them 
these ropes, and they will let you pass." 

Everything happened as the old man said ; the prince passed the 
witches, continued his journey and came to a third gate larger than 
the second. Here an old man with eyelids longer than the other two 
gave him a bag of bread, and one of tallow, saying : " Take this bag of 
bread ; you will meet some large dogs ; throw them the bread and they 
will let you pass ; then you will come to a large gate with many rusty 
padlocks ; then you will see a tower, and in it the Love of the three 
Oranges. When you reach that place, take this tallow and anoint well 
the rusty padlocks ; and when you have ascended the tower, you will 
find the oranges hanging from a nail. There you will also find an old 
woman who has a son who is an ogre and has eaten all the Christians 
who have come there : you see, you must be very careful ! " 

The prince, well contented, took the bag of bread and the tallow and 
rode away. After a long journey, he saw at a distance, three great 
dogs with their mouths wide open coming to eat him. He threw them 
the bread, and they let him pass. 

He journeyed on until he came to another large gate with many rusty 
padlocks. He dismounted, tied his horse to the gate, and began to 
anoint the locks with the tallow, until, after much creaking, they opened. 
The prince entered, saw the tower, went up and met an old woman who 
said to him : " Dear son, where are you going ? What have you come 
here for ? I have a son who is an ogre, and will surely eat you up." 
While she was uttering these words, the son arrived. The old woman 
made the prince hide under the bed ; but the ogre perceived that there 



340 NOTES. 

was some one in the house, and when he had entered, he began to 
cry : — 

" Gein gein, I smell a Christian, 
Gian gian, I smell a Christian ! " 

" Son," his mother said, "there is no one here." But he repeated his 
cry. Then his mother, to quiet him, threw him a piece of meat, which 
he ate like a madman ; and while he was busy eating, she gave the three 
oranges to the prince, saying : " Take them, my son, and escape at 
once, for he will soon finish eating his meat, and then he will want to 
eat you, too." After she had given him the three oranges, she repented 
of it, and not knowing what else to do, she cried out : " Stairs, throw 
him down ! lock, crush him ! " They answered : " We will not, for he 
gave us tallow ! " " Dogs, devour him ! " " We will not, for he gave 
us bread ! " Then he mounted his horse and rode away, and the old 
woman cried after him : " Witch, strangle him ! " "I will not, for he 
gave me ropes ! " " Witch, kill him ! " "I will not, for he gave me 
twigs ! " The prince continued his journey, and on the way became 
very thirsty, and did not know what to do. Finally he thought of 
opening one of the oranges. He did so, and out came a beautiful girl, 
who said to him : 

" Love, give me to drink ! " 

He replied : 

" Love, I have none! " 

And she said : 

"Love, I shall die!" 

And she died at once. The prince threw away the orange, and con- 
tinued his journey, and soon became thirsty again. In despair he 
opened another orange, and out sprang another girl more beautiful than 
the first. She, too, asked for water, and died when the prince told her 
he had none to give her. Then he continued his way, saying : " The 
next time I surely do not want to lose her." When he became thirsty 
again, he waited until he reached a well ; then he opened the last orange 
and there appeared a girl more beautiful than the first two. When she 
asked for water, he gave her the water of the well ; then took her out 
of the orange, put her on horseback with himself, and started for home. 
When he was nearly there, he said to her : " See, I will leave you here 
for a time under these two trees ; " one had leaves of gold and silver 
fruit, and the other gold fruit and silver leaves. Then he made her a 
nice couch, and left her resting between the two trees. " Now," said 
he, " I must go to my mother to tell her that I have found you, then I 
will come for you and we shall be married ! " Then he mounted his 
horse and rode away to his mother. 

Now while he was gone an old witch approached the girl and said : 
" Ah, dear daughter, let me comb your hair." The young girl replied : 
" No, the like of me do not wish it." Again she said : " Come, my 
dear daughter, let me comb you ! " Tired of being asked so often by 



FAIRY TALES. 34 1 

the old woman, the girl at last allowed her to comb her hair, and what 
did that monster of an old witch take it into her head to do. She 
stuck a pin through the girl's temples from side to side, and the girl at 
once was changed into a dove. What did this wretch of an old woman 
then do ? She got into the couch in the place of the young girl, who 
flew away. 

Meanwhile the prince reached his mother's house, and she said to 
him : " Dear son, where have you been ? how have you spent all this 
time ? " " Ah, my mother," said he, " what a lovely girl I have for my 
wife!" "Dear son, where have you left her?" "Dear mother, I 
have left her between two trees, the leaves of one are of gold and 
the fruit is silver, the leaves of the other are of silver and the fruit 
gold." 

Then the queen gave a grand banquet, invited many guests, and 
made ready many carriages to go and bring the young girl. They 
mounted their horses, they entered their carriages, they set out, but 
when they reached the trees they saw the ugly old woman, all wrinkled, 
in the couch between the trees, and the white dove on top of them. 

The poor prince, you can imagine it ! was grieved to the heart, and 
ashamed at seeing the ugly old woman. His father and mother, to sat- 
isfy him, took the old woman, put her in a carriage, and carried her to 
the palace, where the wedding-feast was prepared. The prince was 
downhearted, but his mother said to him : " Don't think about it, my 
son, for she will become beautiful again." But her son could not think 
of eating or of talking. The dinner was brought on and the guests 
placed themselves at the round table. Meanwhile, the dove flew up 
on the kitchen balcony, and began to sing : 

" Let the cook fall asleep, 
Let the roast be burned, 
Let the old witch be unable to eat of it.*' 

The guests waited for the cook to put the roast on the table. They 
waited, and waited and waited, and at last they got up and went to the 
kitchen, and there they found the cook asleep. They called and called 
him, and at last he awoke, but soon became drowsy again. He said he 
did not know what was the matter with him, but he could not stand 
up. He put another roast on the spit, however. Then the dove again 
flew on the balcony and sang : 

" Let the cook fall asleep, 
Let the roast be burned, 
Let the old witch be unable to eat of it." 

Again the guests waited until they grew weary, and then the groom 
went to see what was the matter. He found the cook asleep again, 
and said : " Cook, good cook, what is the matter with you that you 
sleep ? " Then the cook told him that there was a dove that flew on 
the balcony and repeated : — 



342 NOTES. 

" Let the cook fall asleep, 
Let the roast be burned, 
Let the old witch be unable to eat of it." — 

and that he was immediately seized with drowsiness, and fell asleep at 
once. The bridegroom went out on the balcony, saw the dove, and 
said to it : " Cuocula, pretty cuocula, come here and let me see you ! " 
The dove came near him and he caught it, and while he was caressing 
it he saw the pins planted in its head, one in its forehead, and one in 
each of its temples. What did he do ? He pulled out the pin in the 
forehead ! Then he caressed it again, and pulled out the pins from its 
temples. Then the dove became a beautiful girl, more beautiful than 
she was before, and the prince took her to his mother and said : 
" Here, my mother, this is my bride ! " His mother was delighted to 
see the beautiful girl, and the king, too, was well pleased. When the 
old witch saw the girl, she cried : " Take me away, take me away, I 
am afraid ! " Then the fair girl told the whole secret how it was. The 
guests who were present wished to give their opinions as to what 
should be done with the old woman. One of the highest rank said : 
" Let her be well greased, and burned ! " " Bravo, bravo ! " exclaimed 
the others, " burn her ; she must be burned ! " So they seized the old 
woman, had wood brought, and burned her in the midst of the city. 
Then they returned home, and had a finer wedding than before. 

The following are the Italian versions of the above : Pent. IV. 9 ; 
Pitre, Otto Fiabe, II. "La Bella di li setti Citrij" Gonz., No. 13; 
Busk, p. 15 ; Nov.fior. pp. 305, 308 (Milan) ; Comparetti, No. 68 (also 
in Nerucci, p. 111) ; De Gub., Sto. Stefano, Nos. 4, 5 ; Prato, Quattro 
nov. pop. livornesi, No. 1 ; Archivio, I. 525 (Tuscan) ; II. 204 (Sar- 
dinian) ; Piedmontese in Mila y Fontanals Observaciones sobre la 
poesia popular, Barcelona, 1853, p. 179; Coronedi-Berti, No. 11 ; Co- 
razzini (Benevento), p. 467; and Schneller, No. 19. Part of our story 
is the same as Pitre, No. 13, " Snow-white-fire-red," given in full in 
our text. See also Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 15. 

Copious references to other European versions will be found in the 
notes of Ive, Kdhler, etc., to the above versions ; to these may be 
added, Lo Rondallayre, Nos. 18, 37, Liebrecht to Simrock's Deut. 
Marchen in Orient und Occident, III. p. 378 (Kalliopi), No. 3, and 
Indian Fairy Tales, pp. 253, 284. 

22. See Pent. IV. 7 ; Gonz., Nos. 33, 34 ; Pitre, Nos. 59, 60 (61) ; 
Archivio, II. 36 (Sardinia); De Nino, No. 19; and Schneller, No. 22. 
The corresponding Grimm story is No. 135, " The White Bride and 
the Black One." For other European references, see Kohler to Gonz., 
Nos. 33, 34 (II. p. 225), and Romania, No. 24, pp. 546, 561. See also 
Chapter II., note I. 

23. The best version is in the Pent. IV. 3, where the three daugh- 



FAIRY TALES. 343 

ters are married to a falcon, a stag, and a dolphin, who, as in our story, 
assist their brother-in-law, but are disenchanted without his aid. Other 
Italian versions are : Pitre, No. 16, and Nov. pop. sicil., Palermo, 1873, 
No. 1; Gonz., No. 29; Knust (Leghorn), No. 2 (Jahrb. VII. 384); 
Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 23 ; Nov. fior. p. 266 ; Compa- 
retti, Nos. 4, 58; Archivio, II. p. 42 (Tuscan); Nov. tosc. No. 11. 

For other European versions see, besides references in notes to above 
stories, Hahn, No. 25 ; Grimm, vol. II. p. 510, to Musaus' " Die drei 
Schwestem" and No. 197, " The Crystal Ball ; " Benfey, Pant. I. p. 
534; and Ralston, R. F. T. p. 96. See also note 12 of this chapter. 

As usual, many of the incidents of our stories are found in those be- 
longing to other classes ; among the most important are : Prince hid- 
den in musical instrument, Pitre, No. 95 ; finding princess' place of 
concealment, Pitre, Nos. 95, 96; Gonz., No. 68; and Grimm, No. 133; 
" The Shoes which were danced to Pieces ; " princess recognized 
among others dressed alike, or all veiled ; Nov. fior. p. 41 1 (Milan) ; 
Grimm, No. 62, " The Queen Bee," Ralston, R. F. T. p. 141, note ; 
Basque Legends, p. 125; Orient tmd Occident, II. pp. 104, 107-114; 
tasks set hero to win wife, Pitre, Nos. 21, 95, 96 ; Gonz., No. 68; De 
Gub., Sto. Stefano, No. 8 ; Basque Legends, p. 120 ; Orient und Occi- 
dent, II. 103 ; and Romania, No. 28, p. 527. This last incident is 
found also in " Forgotten Bride," see note 25 of this chapter. 

24. For other European references to the first class, " riddle solved 
by suitor," see Jahrb. V. 13; Grimm, No. 114, "The Cunning Little 
Tailor," and Hahn, I. p. 54. 

Other Italian versions of the second class are : Comparetti, Nos. 26 
(Basilicata), 59 (Monferrato) ; Nerucci, p. 177 (partly); and Widter- 
Wolf, No. 15 (Jahrb. VII. 269). See also Kohler's notes to last- 
mentioned story, and also to Campbell, No. 22, in Orient und Occi- 
dent, II. 320; Grimm, No. 22, "The Riddle;" and Prof. F. J. Child, 
English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Part II. p. 414. 

For other stories containing riddles belonging to other classes than 
the above, see Bernoni, Punt. II. p. 54; Gradi, Vigilia, p. 8; Coraz- 
zini, p. 432 ; Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 7 ; and Kohler's ar- 
ticle, Das Rdthselmdrchen von dem ermordeten Geliebten in the Ri- 
vista di Lett. pop. I. p. 212. A peculiar version of the second class 
may be found in Ortoli, p. 123, where a riddle very much like the one 
in the text is proposed by suitor to princess' father. 

25. Other Italian versions are : Gonz., Nos. 14, 54, 55; Pent. II. 7, 
III. 9 (forgets bride on touching shore) ; Pomiglianesi, p. 136 (the 
first part belongs to the class of " Fair Angiola ; ") Busk, p. 3 (first 
part same as last story) ; De Gub., Sto. Stefano, No. 5 (see also Ri- 
vista di Lett. pop. I. p. 84) ; Coronedi-Berti, No. 13 (this is one of 
the few " Three Citrons " stories containing episode of bride forgotten 
at mother's kiss) ; Schneller, No. 27 ; Finamore, Trad. pop. abruz- 



344 NOTES. 

zest, No. 4 (mother's kiss) ; Pitre, vol. IV. p. 285, gives an Albanian 
version of our story. The imprecation and mother's kiss are also 
found in another of the " Three Citrons " stories, Gonz., No. 13. For 
obstacles to flight, see Note 1 1 of this chapter. 

For other European versions see Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 14; 
to Campbell, No. 2 {Orient und Occident, II. 103).; to Kreutzwald- 
Lowe, No. 14; Hahn, I. p. 55; Romania, Nos. 19, p. 354, 20, p. 527; 
Grimm, Nos. 56, ("Sweetheart Roland"), 113 ("The Two Kings' 
Children"), 186 ("The True Bride"), 193 ("The Drummer;") 
Basque Legends, p. 120; Ralston, R. F. T. pp. 119, 131 ; Brueyre, p. 
in ; and B. Schmidt, Griechische Marchen, Sagen und Volkslieder, 
Leipzig, 1877, cited by Cosquin, Romania, No. 28, p. 543. See also in 
general, Cox, Aryan Myth. I. p. 158. 

26. The same incident is found in Gonz., No. 6, and Pitre, No. 61. 
See Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 6; Grimm, No. 193 ("The Drum- 
mer") ; Romania, No. 28, p. 527; and Hahn, No. 15. 

27. Another Venetian version is in Bernoni, No. 3. See also Nov. 
fior. p. 290; Gradi, Vigilia, p. 53; Fiabe Mant. No. 39; and Schnel- 
ler, No. 32. 

For other European versions, see Grimm, No. 46 (" Fitcher's Bird "), 
Kohler's notes to Widter-Wolf, No. 11 (Jahrb. VII. 148) ; and Rals- 
ton, R. F. T. p. 97. 

28. See Pitre, No. 19, Nuovo Saggio, No. 4; Nov. fior. pp. 7, 12; 
and Nerucci, No. 49. Compare also Gonz., Nos. 10 and 22 (already 
mentioned, " The Robber who had a Witch's Head"), and Comparetti, 
No. 18 (Pisa). 

For other references to this class, see Grimm, No. 40 (" The Robber- 
Bridegroom ") and Romania, No. 22, p. 236. 

29. See Chap. II., note 4. For other references to this class, see 
Grimm, No. 3 (" Our Lady's Child "), and Ro?nania, No. 28, p. $6%. 

30. The seventh version is from Bologna and is entitled La Fola del 
Muretein ("The Story of the Little Moor"), and was published by Co- 
ronedi-Berti in the Rivista Europea, Florence, 1873. It is briefly as 
follows : A queen has no children and visits a witch who gives her an 
apple to eat, telling her that in due time she will bear a son. One of the 
queen's maids eats the peel and both give birth to sons ; the maid's 
being called the Little Moor from resembling the dark red color of the 
apple peel. The two children grow up together, and when the prince 
goes off on his travels his friend the little Moor accompanies him. 
They spend the night in an enchanted castle and the friend hears a 
voice saying that the prince will conquer in a tournament and marry 
the king's daughter, but on their wedding night a dragon will devour 
the bride, and whoever tells of it will become marble. The friend 
saves the princess' life, but is thrown into prison, and when he excul- 
pates himself becomes marble. He can only be restored to life by being 



FAIRY TALES. 345 

anointed with the blood of a cock belonging to a wild man (om sal- 
vadgJi) living on a certain mountain. The prince performs the difficult 
feat of stealing the cock and healing his friend. 

For other European versions, see Grimm, No 6 (" Faithful John ") ; 
Hahn, No. 29 ; Wolf, Proben Port, und Cat. Volksm. p. 52 ; Lo Ron- 
dallayre, No. 35 (" Lo bon criat ") ; Old Deccan Days, p. 98 ; and in 
general, Benfey, Pant. I. p. 417, and Kohler in WeimariscJie Beitrdge 
zur Lit. tend Kunst, Weimar, 1865, p. 192 et seq. 

31. See Pitre, vol. I. pp. xcix., ciii. ; IV. pp. 382, 430, and Compa- 
retti, No. 44. A version from the Abruzzi may be found in Finamore, 
No. 38. See also Grimm, No. 191 ("The Robber and his Sons"); 
Basque Legends, p. 4 ; Dolopathos ed. Oesterley, pp. xxii., 65 ; and in 
general, Orieftt ttnd Occident, II. 120, and Benfey, Pant. I. 295. 

32. Another Sicilian version is in Gonz., No. 83. Other versions 
are : Pent. III. 7; Nerucci, p. 341 ; De Nino, No. 30 ; Fiabe Mant. 
No. 4 ; Nov. fior. p. 340 (Milan) ; and Widter-Wolf, No. 9 (Jahrb. 
VII. p. 134). There are other similar stories in which a person is 
forced by those envious of him to undertake dangerous enterprises : 
see Pitre, Nos. 34, 35 ; Comparetti, No. 16; Tuscan Fairy Tales, No. 
8, De Nino, No. 39, etc. Strap., I. 2, also offers many points of re- 
semblance to our story. 

For other versions, see Grimm, No. 192 (" The Master-Thief "), and 
Kdhler's notes to Widter-Wolf, No. 9. 

33. The version in Nov. fior. p. 574, is from Florence, the others, 
pp. 575 (the story in our text), 577, 578, 579, are from Milan, and closely 
resemble each other. 

34. Compare Pitre, No. 83, and De Nino, No. 43. Tyrolese ver- 
sions are in Schneller, Nos. 53, 54. See also Widter-Wolf, No. 2 
(Jahrb. VII. 13), and Jahrb. VIII. p. 246, Italien. Mdrchen aus 
Sora, No. 2. For additional European versions, see Jahrb. ut supra, 
and V. 7; Romania, Nos. 19, p. 350; 24, p. 562; 28, p. 556; and 
Grimm, Nos. 20 (" The Valiant Little Taylor"), and 183 ("The Giant 
and the Tailor ") Some of the episodes mentioned in the text may 
be found in a Corsican story in Ortoli, p. 204, where, however, instead 
of a giant, a priest is outwitted by his servant. 



CHAPTER II. 

FAIRY TALES CONTINUED. 



I. This story Is found in the Pent. I. 10. In Schneller, No. 29, 
the king falls in love with a frog (from hearing its voice without seeing 
it) which is transformed by the fairies into a beautiful girl. The good 
wishes of the fairies are found in Pitre, Nos. 61, 94. See also Pent. 



346 NOTES. 

I. 3 ; III. 10, and Chap. I. of the present work, note 22. For gifts by 
the fairies, see Pitre, vol. I. p. 334, and the following note. 

2. This story is often found as an introduction to " False Bride ; " 
see Chap. I., note 21. Sicilian versions may be found in Pitre, Nos. 
62, 63; Neapolitan, Pent. III. 10; from the Abruzzi in Finamore, No. 
48; De Nino, No. 18; Tuscan, Gradi, Vigilia, p. 20, De Gub., Sto. Ste- 
fano, No. 1, Zo'ol. Myth. II. p. 62, note, Tuscan Fairy Tales, pp. 9, 
18, Corazzini, p. 409, Nov. tosc. No. 8, La Tinchina deW alto Mare; 
Venetian, Bernoni, XIX.; and Tyrolese, Schneller, Nos. 7, 8. 

In several of the Tuscan versions (Gradi, Zo'ol. Myth., Tuscan Fairy 
Tales, p. 9, and Nov.fior. p. 202, which is composed of " Two Sisters " 
and " True Bride ") instead of fairies the sisters find cats who bestow 
the varying gifts. 

Other European versions of this story will be found in Grimm, No. 
24, "Old Mother Holle;" Norwegian in Asbj. & Moe, No. 15 ; [Da- 
sent, Pop. Tales from the Norse, p. 103, "The Two Step-Sisters "] 
French in Blade, Contes agen. p. 149, and Cosquin, Contes pop. lor- 
rains, No. 48 (Romania, No. 32, p. 564). The Oriental versions are 
mentioned by Cosquin in his notes to the last named story; see also 
Benfey, Pant. I. p. 219. 

3. Other Tuscan versions are in Gradi, Saggio di Letture varie, p. 
125, and Nov. tosc. No. 22 ; Sicilian and Roman versions may be found 
in Pitre, No. 64, and Busk, p. 96. 

French versions will be found in Mehisine, pp. 113 (conte picard) 
and 241 {conte de V Amienois). A Japanese version is given in the 
same periodical, p. 161. An Irish version is in Croker, Fairy Legends 
etc. (translated in Brueyre, p. 206) ; and a Turkish version is given in 
The Wo7ider World Stories, New York, Putnam, 1877, p. 139. Other 
French and Oriental versions are noticed in Mehisine, pp. 161, 241. A 
somewhat similar German version is in Grimm, No. 182. "The Pres- 
ents of the Little Folk." 

4. This story somewhat resembles Gonz., No. 20, mentioned in Chap. 
I., note 29. Another Sicilian version is in Pitre, No. 86. I have been 
unable to find any other Italian parallels. Personification of one's Fate 
may be found in Gonz., Nos. 52, 55, Pitre, No. 12 ; and of Fortune in 
Pitre, No. 29, and Comparetti, No. 50. See Indiin Fairy Tales, p. 263. 

5. Sicilian versions are in Pitre, No. 105, and Gonz., No. 18. In 
the latter version the king drives his daughter from the palace and the 
rejected suitor disguises himself, follows her, and marries her. A 
Neapolitan version is in the Pent. IV. 10 ; Tuscan in Gradi, Vigilia, 
p. 97; Nerucci, p. 211 ; and Jahrb. VII. p. 394 (Knust, No. 9). 

Other European versions are : Grimm No. 52, " King Thrushbeard ; " 
Norwegian, Asbj. & Moe, No. 45, and Grundtwig, III. [1]; French, 
Romania, No. 32, p. 552 (Contes pop. lorrains, No. 45) ; and Greek, 
Hahn, No. 113. See also Tibetan Talcs, London, 1882, Ralston's 
notes, p. lviii. 



FAIRY TALES. 347 

6. Other versions of this story are : Sicilian, Pitre, No. 67, and 
Gonz., No. 28 ; Tuscan, Archivio, I. pp. 41, 65, Nov. tosc. No. 7, Abruzzi, 
De Nino, No. 1. For the first part of the story, see Nov.fior. pp. 332- 

333- 

7. I have followed in this division Imbriani, Pomiglianesi, p. 89. 

8. Another Sicilian version, which, however, does not contain the 
trait " cure by laughing," is in Pitre, No. 28. Gonz., No. 30, may be 
mentioned here, as it contains a part of our story. The magic gifts in 
it are a carpet that transports the owner wherever he wishes to go, a 
purse always full, and a horn that when one blows in the little end 
covers the sea with ships, when one blows in the big end, the ships 
disappear. Neapolitan versions are in Imbriani, Pomiglianesi, pp. 62, 
83; Roman in Busk, pp. 129, 136, comp. p. 146 ; and Tuscan in Frizzi, 
Novella montanina, Florence, A. Ciardelli e C. 1876, Nerucci, p. 471 
Archivio per le Trad. pop. I. p. 57, and Nov. tosc. No. 16. De Gub., 
Zoo I. Myth. I. p. 288, n. 3, gives a version from the Marches, and there 
is a Bolognese version in Coronedi-Berti, No. 9. Other versions may 
be found in Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 30, and Bolognini, p. 
21. For other European versions, see Gesta Rom. ed. Oesterley, cap. 
cxx. ; Grimm, No. 122; Campbell, No. 10, " The Three Soldiers " (see 
Kohler's notes to this story in Orient tind Occident, II. p. 124, and 
Brueyre, p. 138); Cosquin, Contes pop. lorrai7is, Nos. 11 (Rom. No. 
19, p. 361) and 42 (Rom. No. 28, p. 581); and finally, Kreutzwald, 
Ehstnische Mdrchen, No. 23. Comp. also De Gub., Zo'ol. Myth. I. p. 
182, and Ralston's notes to Schiefner's Tibetan Tales, p. liv. 

9. I have been unable to find any European parallels to this form 
of the story. 

10. Another version of this story is found in the same collection, p. 
359. Other Tuscan versions are found in De Gub., Sto. Stefano, No. 
21, Gradi, Saggio di Letture varie, p. 181, Nov. tosc. No. 29, and Com- 
paretti, No. 7 (Mugello). The other versions are as follows: Sicilian, 
Pitre, No. 29 (comp. No. 30), Gonz., No. 52 ; Neapolitan, Pent. I. 1 
(Comp. Pomiglianesi, p. 116); Abruzzi, Finamore, No. 37 ; De Nino, 
No. 6; Ortoli, pp. 171, 178; Venetian, Bernoni, No. 9; the Marches, 
Comp., No. 12; and Tyrolese, Schneller, p. 28. 

For the other European parallels, see Grimm, No. 36, " The Table, 
the Ass, and the Stick;" Me lu sine (conie breton), p. 130; Cosquin, 
Contes pop. lorrains, No. 14 (Rom. No. 19, p. 333) ; De Gub., Zobl. 
Myth. II. p. 262 (Russian) ; Brueyre, p. 48 (B. Gould, Yorkshire, Ap- 
pendix to Henderson's Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of Eng- 
land); Asbj. & Moe, No. 7 [Dasent, Pop. Tales from the Norse, p. 
261, " The Lad who went to the North Wind "], and Old Deccan Days, 
No. 12. 

11. Another Sicilian version is in Gonz., No. 65, with same title and 
contents. A Neapolitan version is in the Pent. II. 4, where the fox is 



348 NOTES. 

replaced by a cat. This is also the case in the versions from the 
Abruzzi, Finamore, No. 46, De Nino, No. 53; in the Florentine ver- 
sions in Nov.jior. p. 145, Nov. lose. No. xii. var. ; and in the Tyrolese 
given by Schneller, p. 122 ("77 Conte Martin dalla gatta^. In an- 
other story in Schneller, p. 124 Q'L'Anello"), a youth possesses a 
magic ring and a dog and cat which recover the ring when stolen from 
its owner. Older and more interesting than the above versions is the 
one in Straparola, XL 1. We give it here in full in order that our 
readers may compare with it the version in our text and Perrault's 
" Puss in Boots," which is the form in which the story has become 
popular all over Europe. The following translation is from the edition 
of 1562 (Venice). 

XXXIV. PUSS IN BOOTS. 

SORIANA DIES AND LEAVES THREE SONS: DUSOLINO, TeSIFONE, AND CONSTANTINE THE 

Lucky, who, by virtue of a cat, acquires a powerful kingdom. 

There was once in Bohemia a very poor lady named Soriana, who 
had three sons : one was called Dusolino, the other Tesifone, and the 
third Constantine the Lucky. She owned nothing valuable in the 
world but three things : a kneading-trough, a rolling-board, and a cat. 
When Soriana, laden with years, came to die, she made her last testa- 
ment, and left to Dusolino, her eldest son, the kneading-trough, to Te- 
sifone the rolling-board, and to Constantine the cat. When the mother 
was dead and buried, the neighbors, as they had need, borrowed now 
the kneading-trough, now the rolling-board ; and because they knew 
that the owners were very poor, they made them a cake, which Duso- 
lino and Tesifone ate, giving none to Constantine, the youngest 
brother. And if Constantine asked them for anything, they told him 
to go to his cat, which would get it for him. Wherefore poor Constan- 
tine and his cat suffered greatly. Now the cat, which was enchanted, 
moved to compassion for Constantine, and angry at the two brothers 
who treated him so cruelly, said : " Constantine, do not be downcast, 
for I will provide for your support and my own." And leaving the 
house, the cat went out into the fields, and, pretending to sleep, caught 
a hare that passed and killed it. Thence, going to the royal palace 
and seeing some of the courtiers, the cat said that she wished to speak 
with the king, who, when he heard that a cat wished to speak to him, 
had her shown into his presence, and asked her what she wished. 
The cat replied that her master, Constantine, had sent him a hare 
which he had caught. The king accepted the gift, and asked who this 
Constantine was. The cat replied that he was a man who had no su- 
perior in goodness, beauty, and power. Wherefore the king treated 
the cat very well, giving her to eat and drink bountifully. When the 
cat had satisfied her hunger, she slyly filled with her paw (unseen by 



FAIRY TALES. 349 

any one) the bag that hung at her side, and taking leave of the king, 
carried it to Constantine. When the brothers saw the food over which 
Constantine exulted, they asked him to share it with them ; but he re- 
fused, rendering them tit for tat. On which account there arose be- 
tween them great envy, that continually gnawed their hearts. Now 
Constantine, although handsome in his face, nevertheless, from the 
privation he had suffered, was covered with scabs and scurf, which 
caused him great annoyance. But going with his cat to the river, she 
licked him carefully from head to foot, and combed his hair, and in a 
few days he was entirely cured. 

The cat (as we said above) continued to carry gifts to the royal pal- 
ace, and thus supported her master. But after a time she wearied of 
running up and down so much, and feared that she would annoy the 
king's courtiers ; so she said to her master : " Sir, if you will do what 
I order, I will make you rich in a short time." " How ? " said her 
master. The cat replied : " Come with me, and do not ask any more, 
for I am ready to enrich you." So they went together to the stream, 
which was near the royal palace, and the cat stripped her master, and 
with his agreement threw him into the river, and then began to cry 
out in a loud voice : " Help ! help ! Messer Constantine is drowning." 
The king hearing this, and remembering that he had often received 
presents from him, sent his people at once to aid him. When Messer 
Constantine was taken out of the water and dressed in fine clothes, he 
was taken to the king, who received him cordially, and asked him why 
he had been thrown into the river. Constantine could not answer for 
grief ; but the cat, which was always at his side, said : " Know, O 
king, that some robbers learned from spies that my master was loaded 
with jewels, which he was coming to present to you. They robbed 
him of all, and threw him into the river, thinking to kill him, but 
thanks to these gentlemen he has escaped from death." The king, 
hearing this, ordered, that he should be well cared for ; and seeing that 
he was handsome, and knowing him to be wealthy, he concluded to 
give him Elisetta, his daughter, for a wife, endowing her with jewels 
and most beautiful garments. After the wedding festivities had 
been ended, the king had ten mules loaded with money, and five with 
costly apparel, and sent his daughter to her husband's home, accompa- 
nied by a great retinue. Constantine, seeing that he had become so 
wealthy and honored, did not know where to lead his wife, and took 
counsel with his cat, which said : " Do not fear, my master, for we 
shall provide for everything." So they all set out gayly on horseback, 
and the cat ran hastily before them ; and having left the company some 
distance behind, met some horsemen, to whom she said : " What are 
you doing here, wretched men ? Depart quickly, for a large band of 
people are coming, and will take you prisoners. They are near by : you 
can hear the noise of the neighing horses." The horsemen said in ter- 



350 * NOTES. 

ror : " What must we do, then ? " The cat replied : " Do this, — if 
you are asked whose horsemen you are, answer boldly, Messer Con- 
stantine's, and you will not be molested." Then the cat went on, and 
found a large flock of sheep, and did the same with their owners, and 
said the same thing to all those whom she found in the road. The 
people who were escorting Elisetta asked the horsemen : " Whose 
knights are you," and " whose are so many fine flocks ? " and all 
with one accord replied: "Messer Constantine's." Then those who 
accompanied the bride said : " So then, Messer Constantine, we are 
beginning to enter your territory." And he nodded his head, and re- 
plied in like manner to all that he was asked. Wherefore the company 
judged him to be very wealthy. At last the cat came to a very fine 
castle, and found there but few servants, to whom she said: "What 
are you doing, good men ; do you not perceive the destruction which 
is impending ? " " What ? " asked the servants. " Before an hour 
passes, a host of soldiers will come here and cut you to pieces. Do 
you not hear the horses neighing ? Do you not see the dust in the 
air ? If you do not wish to perish, take my advice and you will be 
saved. If any one asks you whose this castle is, say, Messer Con- 
stantine's." So they did; and when the noble company reached the 
handsome castle they asked the keepers whose it was, and all an- 
swered boldly Messer Constantine the Lucky's. Then they entered, 
and were honorably entertained. Now the castellan of that place was 
Signor Valentino, a brave soldier, who, a short time before, had left 
the castle to bring home the wife he had lately married ; and to his 
misfortune, before he reached the place where his wife was he was 
overtaken on the way by a sudden and fatal accident, from which he 
straightway died, and Constantine remained master of the castle. Be- 
fore long, Morando, King of Bohemia, died, and the people elected for 
their king Constantine the Lucky because he was the husband of Eli- 
setta, the dead king's daughter, to whom the kingdom fell by right of 
succession. And so Constantine, from being poor and a beggar, re- 
mained Lord and King, and lived a long time with his Elisetta, leav- 
ing children by her to succeed him in the kingdom. 

For copious references to other European versions, see Kohler's 
notes to Gonz., No. 65 (II. p. 242), and Benfey, Pant. I. p. 222. 

12. The earliest Italian versions are in the Cento nov. ant., Testo 
Papanti {Romania, No. 10, p. 191), and Straparola, XI. 2. Later 
popular versions, besides the Istrian one in the text, are : Nerucci, 
p. 430, and Bernoni, III. p. 91, both of which are much distorted. 
Some of the episodes are found in other stories, as, for instance, the 
division of the property, including the wife, which occurs in Gonz., 
No. 74. "The Thankful Dead" is also the subject of an Italian 
novel, Novella di Messer Danese e di Messer Gigliotto, Pisa, 1868 (pri- 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 35 I 

vately printed), and of a popular poem, Istoria bellissima di Stellante 
Costantina composta da Giovanni Orazio Brunette 

The extensive literature of this interesting story can best be found 
in D'Ancona's notes to the version in the Cento nov. ant., cited above. 
To these may be added : Ive's notes to the story in the text, Cos- 
quin's notes to No. 19 of the Contes pop. lorrains (Rom. No. 24, p. 
534). and Nisard, Hist, des Livrcs pop. II. p. 450. Basque and Span- 
ish versions have been published recently, the former in Webster's 
Basque Legends, pp. 146, 151, and the latter in Caballero, Cuentos, 
oraciones, etc., Leipzig, 1S78, p. 23. A version from Mentone may be 
found in the Folk-Lore Record, vol. III. p. 48, "John of Calais." 

13. In the original it is la Voria, which in Sicilian means "breeze," 
but I take it to be the same as Boria in Italian (Lat. Boreas-ce), the 
North Wind. 

14. Other Italian versions are: Nov. fior. p. 440; Archivio, III. 
542 (Abruzzi) ; Pitre, No. 31 ; Tuscan Fairy Tales, No. 10, p. 102; 
De Nino, No. 69; and Widter-Wolf, No. 10 (Jahrbuch, VII. 139). 
See also Prato, Una nov. pop. monferrina, Como, 1882 ; and Finamore, 
Trad. pop. abruzzesi, Nos. 17, 19. 

References to other European versions will be found in Kohler's 
notes to Widter-Wolf, No. 10. See also Grimm, No. 92; Ralston's 
R. F. T. p. 132, and Chap. I., note 11, of the present work. 

15. A work of this kind, similar in scope to Nisard's Hist, des 
IJvres populaires, is greatly to be desired, and ought to be undertaken 
before the great changes in the social condition of Italy shall have 
rendered such a task difficult, if not impossible. 



CHAPTER III. 

STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 

I. There are three Italian translations of the Pantschatantra, all of 
the XVI. century. Two, Discorsi degli Animali, by Angelo Firenzuola, 
1548, and La Filosofia Morale, by Doni, 1552, represent the Hebrew 
translation by Rabbi Joel (1250), from which they are derived through 
the Directorium humanae vitae of Johannes de Capua (1263-78) ; the 
third, Del Governo de' Regni, by G. Nuti, 1583, is from the Greek ver- 
sion of Simeon Seth (1080). A full account of the various translations 
of the Pantschatantra may be found in Max Midler's Chips, Vol. IV. 
p. 165, " The Migration of Fables." See also Benfey, Pant. I. pp. 1- 
19, Buddhist Birth Stories; or, Jataka Tales, By V. Fausbbll and T. 
W. Rhys Davids, Boston, 1880, p. xciii., and Landau, Die Quellen des 
Decamerone, mentioned in the following note. 

The Seven Wise Masters was also translated into Italian at an early 



352 NOTES. 

date. One version, II Libro dei Sette Savj di Roma, Pisa, 1864, edited 
by Prof. A. D'Ancona, is a XIII. century translation from a French 
prose version (Cod. 7974, Bib. nat.~) ; another, of the same date, Storia 
d' una crudele Matrigna, Bologna, 1862, is from an uncertain source, 
from which is probably derived a third version, II Libro dei Sette Savi 
di Roma tratto da tin codice del secolo XIV. per cura di Antonio Cap- 
pelli, Bologna, 1865. The MS. from which the version edited by 
Delia Lucia in 1832 (reprinted at Bologna, 1862) was taken has been 
recently discovered and printed in Operette inedite o rare, Libre? ia 
Dante, Florence, 1883, No. 3. A fourth version of the end of the 
XIII. or the beginning of the XIV. century is still inedited, it is men- 
tioned by D'Ancona in the Libro dei Sette Savj, p. xxviii., and its 
contents given. The latest and most curious version is / Compassio- 
nevoli Avvenimenti di Erasto, a work of the XVI. century (first edition, 
Venice, 1542) which contains four stories found in no other version of 
the Seven Wise Masters. The popularity of this version, the source 
of which is unknown, was great. See D'Ancona, op. cit., pp. xxxi.- 
xxxiv. 

The Disciplina Clericalis was not known, apparently, in Italy as a 
collection, but the separate stories were known as early as Boccaccio, 
who borrowed the outlines of three of his stories from it (VII. 4; 
VIII. 10: X. 8). Three of the stories of the Disc. Cler. are also found 
in the Ital. trans, of Frate Jacopo da Cessole's book on Chess (Vol- 
garizzamento del libro de' Costumi e degli ojffizii de' nobili sopra il 
giuoco degli Scachi, Milan, 1829) and reprinted in Libro di A T ovelle 
Antiche, Bologna, 1868, Novelle III., IV., and VI. This translation is 
of the XII. century. Other stories from the Disc. Cler. are found in 
the Cento nov. ant., Gualt., LI 1 1., XXXL, LXVL, Borg., LXXIV. {Cent, 
nov., Biagi, pp. 226, 51, 58) ; and in Cintio, Gli Ecato7itmiti, I, 3 ; VII. 
6. 

2. It has been generally supposed that the Oriental element was 
introduced into European literature from Spain through the medium of 
the French. We shall see later that this was the case with the famous 
collection of tales just mentioned, the Disciplina Clericalis. Oriental 
elements are also found in the French fabliaux which are supposed to 
have furnished Boccaccio with the plots of a number of his novels. 
See Landau, Die Quellen des Deca77terone, 2d ed., Vienna, 1884, p. 
107. Professor Bartoli in his I Precursoi'i del Boccaccio e alcune delle 
sue Fonti, Florence, 1876, endeavors to show that Boccaccio may 
have taken the above mentioned novels from sources common to them 
and the French fabliaux. It is undeniable that there was in the 
Middle Ages an immense mass of stories common to the whole western 
world, and diffused by oral tradition as well as by literary means, and 
it is very unsafe to say that any one literary version is taken directly 
from another. Sufficient attention has not been paid to the large 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 353 

Oriental element in European entertaining literature prior to the Renais- 
sance. In early Italian literature besides Boccaccio, the Cento novelle 
antiche abound in Oriental elements. See D'Ancona, Le Fonti del 
Novellino, in the Romania, vol. III. pp. 164-194, since republished in 
Studj di Critica e Storia Letteraria, Bologna, 1880, pp. 219-359. 

3. See Introduction, Notes 3, 7. 

4. In the Pantschatantra (Benfey's trans, vol. II. p. 120) this story 
is as follows : A merchant confides to a neighbor some iron scales or 
balances for safe-keeping. When he wishes them back he is told that 
the mice have eaten them up. The merchant is silent, and some time 
after asks his neighbor to lend him his son to aid him in bathing. After 
the bath the merchant shuts the boy up in a cave, and when the father 
asks where he is, is told that a falcon has carried him off. The neigh- 
bor exclaimed : " Thou liar, how can a falcon carry away a boy ? The 
merchant responded : " Thou veracious man ! If a falcon cannot carry 
away a boy, neither can mice eat iron scales. Therefore give me back 
my scales if you desire your son." See also Benfey, Pant. I. p. 283. 
La Fontaine has used the same story for his fable of Le Depositaire 
injidele (livre IX. 1) : see also references in Fables inedites, vol. II. 

P- 193- 

5. The fables in Pitre of non-Oriental origin may be mentioned 
here; they are: No. 271, " Brancaliuni" found also in Straparola, X. 
2; No. 272, "The Two Mice," compare Aesop, ed. Furia, 198, and 
Schneller, No. 59 ; No. 274, " Wind, Water, and Honor," found in 
Straparola, XI. 2; No. 275, " Godfather Wolf and Godmother Fox"; 
No. 276, "The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox," Aesop, ed. Furia, 233 ; 
No. 277, "The Fox," see Roman du Renart, Paris, 1828, I. p. 129, and 
Nov. lose. No. 69; No. 278, "L'Acidduzzu (Pretty Little Bird)," com- 
pare Asbj. & Moe, No. 42, Bernoni, Punt. III. p. 69, " El Galo" 
Nerucci, Cincelle da Ba?nbini, p. 38 ; No. 279, ' ' The Wolf and the 
Finch," Gonz., No. 66, Nov. tosc. No. 52 (add to Kohler's references : 
Asbj. & M., Nos. 42, 102, [Dasent, Tales frojn the Fjeld, p. 35, "The 
Greedy Cat,"] and Bernoni, Pzmt. III. p. 69); and finally No. 280, 
"The Cricket and the Ants," see Aesop, ed. Furia, 121, La Fontaine, 
La Cigale et la Fourmi, livre I. 1 : see copious references in Robert, 
Fables inedites, I. p. 2. For Bernoni, III. p. 69, " El Galo," and Pitre\ 
No. 279, see Chap. V. pp. 270, 272. 

There are two fables in Coronedi-Berti's collection: No. 20: "La 
Fola del Corov," and No. 21, "La Fola dla Voulp." The first is the 
well-known fable of the crow in the peacock's feathers ; for copious 
references see Robert, Fables inedites, I. p. 247, to La Fontaine's Le 
Geai pare des plumes du Paon, livre IV. fab. IX., and Oesterley to 
Kirchhof's Wendunmuth, 7, 52. In the second fable the fox leaves 
her little ones at home, bidding them admit no one without a counter- 
sign. The wolf learns it from the simple little foxes themselves, gains 
23 



354 NOTES. 

admission, and eats two of them up. The mother takes her revenge 
in almost the same way as does the fox in Pitre's fable, No. 277. 

6. This fable is also found in Pitre, No. 273, " The Man, the Wolf, 
and the Fox," and in Gonz., No. 69, " Lion, Horse, and Fox : " see 
Benfey, Pant. I. 113, and Kohler's references to Gonz., No. 69. 

There is also a version of this fable in Morosi, p. 75, which is as 
follows : — 



XLIX. THE MAN, THE SERPENT, AND THE FOX. 

There was once a huntsman, who, in passing a quarry, found a ser- 
pent under a large stone. The serpent asked the hunter to liberate 
him, but the latter said : " I will not free you, for you will eat me." 
The serpent replied : " Liberate me, for I will not eat you." When 
the hunter had set the serpent at liberty, the latter wanted to devour 
him, but the hunter said : " What are you doing ? Did you not prom- 
ise me that you would not eat me ? " The serpent replied that hunger 
did not observe promises. The hunter then said : " If you have no 
right to eat me, will you do it ? " " No," answered the serpent. " Let 
us go, then," said the hunter, " and ask three times." They went into 
the woods and found a greyhound, and asked him, and he replied : 
" I had a master, and I went hunting and caught hares, and when I 
carried them home my master had nothing too good to give me to eat ; 
now, when I cannot overtake even a tortoise, because I am old, my 
master wishes to kill me ; for this reason I condemn you to be eaten 
by the serpent ; for he who does good finds evil." " Do you hear ? 
We have one judge," said the serpent. They continued their journey, 
and found a horse, and asked him, and he too replied that the serpent 
was right to eat the man, " for," he said, " I had a master, who fed me 
when I could travel ; now that I can do so no longer, he would like to 
hang me." The serpent said : " Behold, two judges ! " They went 
on, and found a fox. The huntsman said : " Fox, you must aid me. 
Listen : I was passing a quarry, and found this serpent dying under a 
large stone, and he asked aid from me, and I released him, and now he 
wants to eat me." The fox answered : " I will be the judge. Let us 
return to the quarry, to see how the serpent was." They went there, 
and put the stone on the serpent, and the fox asked : " Is that the way 
you were ?" " Yes," answered the serpent. " Very well, then, stay so 
always ! " said the fox. 

7. The individual stories of the Thotisand and One A T ights were 
known in Europe long before the collection, which was not translated 
into French until 1704-17 17. This is shown by the fact that some of 
the XIII. century fabliatix embody stories of the Thousand and One 
Nights. See Note 10. An interesting article by Mr. H. C. Coote on 
" Folk-Lore, the source of some of M. Galland's Tales," will be found 
in the Folk-Lore Record, vol. III. pp. 1 78-1 91. 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 355 

8. The Sicilian versions are in Pitre, No. 81. The version from Pa- 
lermo, of which Pitre gives only a resume, is printed entire in F. Saba- 
tini, La Lanterna, Nov. pop. sicil. Imola, 1878. The Roman version, 
" How Cajusse was married," is .in Busk, p. 158; and the Mantuan in 
Visentini, No. 35. Tuscan versions may be found in the Rivista di 
Lett. pop. p. 267 ; De Nino, No. 5 ; and a version from Bergamo in 
the same periodical, p. 288. For the episode of the " Magician with 
no heart in his body," see Chap. I. note 12. 

9. See Pitre, No. 36, and Gonz., No. 5, with Kohler's copious refer- 
ences. As this story is found in Chap. I. p. 17, it is only mentioned 
here for the sake of completeness. 

There is another complete version of " The Forty Thieves " in Ne- 
rucci, No. 54, Cicerchia, o i ventiduct, Ladri. The thieves are twenty- 
two, and cicerchia is the magic word that opens and shuts the robbers' 
cave. A version in Ortoli, p. 137, has seven thieves. 

10. Pitre, No. 164, " The Three Hunchbacks ; " Straparola, V. 3. 
It is also found in the fabliau, Les Trois Bossus, Barbazan-Meon, 
III. 245 ; for copious references see Von der Hagen, Gesamtntaben- 
teuer, III. p. xxxv. et seq. Pitre, No. 165, " Fra Ghiniparu," is a 
variation of the above theme, and finds its counterpart in the fabliau 
of Le Sacristain de Cluni : see Gesammtabenteuer, ut sup. Other ver- 
sions are in Finamore, Trad. pop. abruzzesi, No. 9, and Nov. tosc. 
No. 58. 

11. The story is, properly speaking, in the introduction to the Thou- 
sand and One Nights : see Lane, The Thousand and One Nights, 
London, 1865, I. 10. See Straparola, XII. 3, and Schmipf und Ernst 
von Johannes Pauli, herausgegeben von Hermann Oesterley (Biblio- 
thek des litt. Vereins, LXXXV.), Stuttgart, 1866, No. 134, " Ein bosz 
weib tugenhaft zemachen." 

12. For the first story, see Thousand and One Nights (ed. Breslau), 
IX. 129; Pent. V. 7; Gonz., No. 45; Hahn, No. 47; and Grimm, 
No. 129. For the second, see Thousand and One Nights (ed. Breslau), 
II. 196; ed. Lane, III. 41. 

13. See Lane, I. 140, and, for the transformations, p. 156. This 
story is also in Straparola, VIII. 5. It is well known in the North of 
Europe from the Grimm tale (No. 68), " The Thief and his Master," 
To the references in Grimm, II. p. 431, may be added : Revue Cel- 
tique, I. 132, II.; Benfey, Pant. I. p. 410; Brueyre, 253; Ralston, 
R. F. T. 229 ; Asbj. & M., No. 57 [Dasent, Pop. Tales, No. XXXIX.] 
(comp. Nos. 9, 46 [Dasent, Pop. Tales, Nos. XXIIL, IX.]); Hahn, 
No. 68; Bernhauer, Vierzig Viziere, p. 195; Orient und Occident, II. 
313; III. 374; Grundtvig, I. 248; Jiilg, Kahniikische Mdrchen, Einlei- 
tung, p. 1 ; and F. J. Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 
Part II. p. 399, "The Twa Magicians." 

14. The principal sources of information in regard to the Disciplina 



356 NOTES. 

Clericalis and its author are the two editions of Paris and Berlin : 
Disciplina Clericalis : auctore Petro Alphonsi, Ex-Judaeo Hispano, 
Parisiis, mdcccxxiv. 2 vols. (Societe des Bibliophiles francais) ; 
Petri Alfonsi Disciplina Clericalis, zum ersten Mai herausgegeben 
mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen von Fr. Wilh. Val. Schmidt, Ber- 
lin, 1827. The first edition was edited by J. Labouderie, Vicar-general 
of Avignon, and as only two hundred and fifty copies were printed, it is 
now very scarce. Schmidt even had not seen it : and when he pub- 
lished his own edition, three years later, thought it the first. The Paris 
edition contains the best text, and has besides two Old-French transla- 
tions, one in prose, the other in verse. The Berlin edition is, however, 
more valuable on account of the notes. 

15. This is the story shortly after mentioned, Pitre, No. 138, " The 
Treasure." The date of the Cento nov. ant. cannot be accurately 
fixed; the compilation was probably made at the end of the XIII. 
cent., although individual stories may be of an earlier date. 

16. See Disciplina Cler. ed. Schmidt, pp. 63 and 142. For copious 
references see Oesterley's Gesta Rom. cap. 106. 

17. There are several literary Italian versions of this story: one in 
Casalicchio, VI., I., VI.; and in Cintio, Ecatojiimiti, I. 3. There is 
another popular version in Imbriani's Nov. fior. p. 616, " The Three 
Friends." 

18. See Disc. Cler. ed. Schmidt, pp. 50 and 128. The version in the 
Cento nov. ant. ed. Gualt., No. 31, is as follows : Messer Azzolino 
had a story-teller, whom he made tell stories during the long winter 
nights. It happened one night that the story-teller had a great mind 
to sleep, and Azzolino asked him to tell stories. The story-teller 
began to relate a story about a peasant who had a hundred bezants. 
He went to market to buy sheep, and had two for a bezant. Returning 
home with his sheep, a river that he had crossed was greatly swollen 
by a heavy rain that had fallen. Standing on the bank he saw a poor 
fisherman with an exceedingly small boat, so small that it would only 
hold the peasant and one sheep at a time. Then the peasant began to 
cross with one sheep, and began to row: the river was wide. He 
rows and crosses. And the story-teller ceased relating. Azzolino 
said: "Go on." And the story-teller answered: "Let the sheep 
cross, and then I will tell the story." For the sheep would not be over 
in a year, so that meanwhile he could sleep at his leisure. 

The story passed from the Disc. Cler. into the Spanish collection El 
Libro de los Enxemplos, No. 85. A similar story is also found in 
Grimm, No. 86, " The Fox and the Geese." 

19. The word translated bank (bancu) is here used to indicate a 
buried treasure. The most famous of these concealed treasures was 
that of Ddisisa, a hill containing caves, and whose summit is crowned 
by the ruins of an Arab castle. This treasure is mentioned also in 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 357 

Pitre, No. 230, " The Treasure of Ddisisa," where elaborate direc- 
tions are given for finding it. 

20. See Pitre, vol. IV. p. 401, and Nov.fior. p. 572. 

21. See Disc. Cler. ed. Schmidt, pp. 64 and 147, where the story is 
as follows : " A certain tailor to the king had, among others, an ap- 
prentice-named Nedui. On one occasion the king's officers brought 
warm bread and honey, which the tailor and his apprentices ate with- 
out waiting for Nedui, who happened to be absent. When one of the 
officers asked why they did not wait for Nedui, the tailor answered 
that he did not like honey. When Nedui returned, and learned what 
had taken place, he determined to be revenged ; and when he had a 
chance he told the officer who superintended the work done for the 
king that the tailor often went into a frenzy and beat or killed the by- 
standers. The officer said that if they could tell when the attack was 
coming on, they would bind him, so that he could not injure any one. 
Nedui said it was easy to tell; the first symptoms were the tailor's 
looking here and there, beating the ground with his hands, and getting 
up and seizing his seat. The next day Nedui securely hid his master's 
shears, and when the latter began to look for them, and feel about on 
the floor, and lift up his seat, the officer called in the guard and had 
the tailor bound, and, for fear he should beat any one, soundly thrashed. 
At last the poor tailor succeeded in obtaining an explanation ; and 
when he asked Nedui : " When did you know me to be insane ? " the 
latter responded: "When did you know me not to eat honey? " See 
also references in Kirchhoff's Wendunmuth, I. 243. 

22. In the original the admonitions are in the form of a verse, as 
follows : — 

" Primu : Cu' cancia la via vecchia pi la nova, 
Le guai ch' 'un circannu dda li trova 
Secunnu : Vidi assai e parra pocu. 
Terzu : Pensa la cosa avanti chi la fai, 

Ca la cosa pinsata e bedda assai." 

23. See Disc. Cler. ed. Schmidt, pp. 61 and 141. This story is also 
found in the Gesta Romanorum, cap. 103; Gonz., No. 81, where copi- 
ous references by Oesterley and Kohler may be found ; in Nerucci, 
No. 53; and in a distorted version in Ortoli, p. 118: see also Giomale 
Napoletano della Domenica, August 20, 1882; Pitre, "/ Tre Pareri" 
and Notes and Queries, London, February 7, March 14, 1885. 

24. See Note 1 of this chapter. 

25. In the original, what the husband, wife, and king, say, is in 
verse, as follows : — 

" Vigna era e Vigna son, 

Amata era e piu non son ; 
E non so per qual cagion, 
Che la Vigna a perso la so stagion." 

" Vigna eri e Vigna sei, 

Amata eri e piu non sei : 



358 NOTES. 

Per la branca del leon 
La Vigna a perso la so stagion." 

" Ne la Vigna io son intrato, 
Di quei pampani n' 6 tocato ; 
Ma lo guiro per la corona che porto in capo, 
Che de quel fruto no ghe n' 6 gustato." 

This story is also found in Pitre, No. 76, " Ltt Bracceri di^nanu 
manca " ("The Usher on the Left Hand," i. e., of the king, who also 
had one on his right hand) ; Pomiglianesi, No. 6, " Villa j " and, in 
the shape of a poetical dialogue, in Vigo, Raccolta amplissima di Canti 
popolari siciliani. Secunda ediz. Catania, 1 870-1874, No. 5145. 

The story is told of Pier delle Vigne by Jacopo d' Aqui (XIII. 
cent.) in his Chronicon imaginis mtmdi, and of the Marchese di Pes- 
cara by Brantome, Vie des Dames galantes. These versions will be 
found with copious references in Pitre and Imbriani as cited above : 
see also, Cantilene e Ballate, Stranibotti e Madrigali nei Secoli XIII. 
e XIV, A cura di Giosue Carducci, Pisa, 1871, p. 26. The story is 
discussed in an exhaustive manner by S. Prato in the Romania, vol. 
XII. p. 535 ; XIV. p. 132, " D Orma del Leone." 

26. For the Oriental versions see Essai sur les Fables indiennes, par 
A. Loiseleur Deslongchamps, Paris, 1838, p-96; Das Buck von den 
sieben weisen Meistern, aus dem Hebraischen und Griechischen zum 
ersten Male iibersetzt von H. Sengelmann, Halle, 1842, p. 40 {Mischle 
Sandabdf), p. 87 {Syntipas}, Tausend und Eine Nacht, Deutsch von 
Max Habicht, Von der Hagen und Schall, Breslau, 1836, vol. XV. p. 
112 (Arabic); Li Romans des Sept Sages, nach der Pariser Hand- 
schrift herausgegeben von H. A. Keller, Tubingen, 1836, p. cxxxviii. ; 
Dyocletianus Leben, von Hans von Buhel, herausgegeben von A. Keller, 
Quedlinburg und Leipzig, 1841, p. 45. All students of this subject are 
acquainted with Domenico Comparetti's masterly essay Ricerche in- 
torno al Libro di Sindibdd, Milan, 1869, which has recently been made 
accessible to English readers in a version published by the English 
Folk-Lore Society in 1882. The Persion and Arabic texts may be 
consulted in an English translation, reprinted with valuable introduc- 
tion and notes in the following work : The Book of Sindibdd j or, The 
Story of the King, his Son, the Damsel, and the Seven Vazirs, From 
the Persian and Arabic, with Introduction, Notes, and an Appendix, 
by W. A. Clouston. Privately printed, 1884 [Glasgow], pp. xvii.-lvi. 

27. For the original version in the various forms of the Western 
Seven Wise Masters, see Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, p. 162 ; Keller, 
Romans, p. ccxxix., and Dyocletianus, p. 63 ; and D Ancona, II Libro 
dei Sette Savi di Roma, p. 121. To the references in D' Ancona may 
be added : Deux Redactions du Roman des Sept Sages, G. Paris, Paris, 
1876, pp. 47, 162; Benfey, in Orient und Occident, III. 420; Romania, 
VI. p. 182; Melusine, p. 384; and Basque Legends, collected by Rev. 
W. Webster, London, 1879, PP- I 3&> I 37- 



STORIES OF ORIENTAL ORIGIN. 359 

28. See Grimm, No. 33, "The Three Languages;" Hahn, No. 33; 
Basque Legends, p. 137; and Melusine, p. 300. There is a verbose 
version in the Fiabe Mantovane, No. 23, " Bobo." 

29. See Herodotus, with a commentary by J. W. Blakesley, Lon- 
don, 1854, I. p. 254, n. 343. For the literature of this story, and for 
various other Italian versions, see La Leggenda del Tesoro di Ramp^ 
sinite, Stanislao Prato, Como, 1882 ; and Ralston's notes to Schief- 
ner's Tibetan Tales, p. xlvii. 

30. For the story in the Seven Wise Masters, see D'Ancona, op. cit. 
p. 108; Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, p. 146; Keller, Romans, p. cxciii., 
and Dyoclet. p. 55. 

Besides the popular versions in Italian, the story is also found in 
Bandello, I., XXV., who follows Herodotus closely. 

31. For the story in the Seven Wise Masters see D'Ancona, op. 
cit. p. 120; Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, p. 158; Keller, Romans, p. 
ccxxxvii., and Dyoclet. p. 61. Literary versions of this story are in 
Straparola, II. 11 ; Pecorone, II. 2; Malespini, 53 ; Bandello, I. 3; and 
Sercambi, XIII. See Pitre, IV. pp. 407, 442. 

32. The literature of this famous collection of tales will best be 
found in an article by Wilhelm Pertsch, " Ueber Nachschabf s Papa- 
gaienbuch " in the Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesell- 
schaft, Bd. XXI. pp. 505-551. Prof. H. Brockhaus discovered that 
the eighth night of Nachschabi's version was nothing but a version of 
the Seven Wise Masters containing seven stories. Nachschabi, in 
preparing his work, used probably the oldest version of the Seven 
Wise Masters of which we have any knowledge. Professor Brock- 
haus made this discovery known in a brief pamphlet entitled: Die 
Sieben Weisen Meister von Nachschabi, Leipzig, 1843, of which only 
twelve copies were printed. The above, except the Persian text, was 
reprinted in the Bldtt.fiir lit. Unterhaltung, 1843, Nos. 242, 243 (pp. 
969 et seq.) ; and, in an Italian translation, in D'Ancona's // Libro 
dei Sette Savi di Roma. 

The Persian version of Qadiri (a compend of Nachschabi's) is the 
one most frequently translated. The German translation : Tonti- 
nameh. Eine Sammlung pers. Marchen, von C. J. L. Iken, mit einem 
Anhange von J. G. L. Kosegarten, Stuttgart, 1822, is easily found. 
The Turkish version is elegantly translated by G. Rosen : Tiiti-nameh, 
das Papagaienbnch, eine Sammlung orientalischer Erzahlungen nach 
der tiirkischen Bearbeitung zum ersten Male iibersetzt von G. Rosen, 
Leipzig, 1858, 2 vols. 

33. The preservation of the frame of the Ctikasaptati in Italian 
popular tales is only paralleled, to our knowledge, by the preservation 
of the Seven Wise Masters in a Magyar popular tale. See La Tra- 
dizione dei Sette Savi nelle Novelline magiare. Lettera al Prof. A. 
D'Ancona di E. Teza, Bologna, 1864. 



360 NOTES. 

It is possible that the Italian stories containing the frame of the 
Ctikasaptati may have been developed from the story in the Seven 
Wise Masters which is found in both the Oriental and Occidental ver- 
sions. The spirit of Folk-tales seems to us averse to expansion, and 
that condensation is the rule. We think it more likely that it was by 
way of oral tradition, or from some now lost collection of Oriental tales 
once known in Italy. 

34. It is in the work by Teza mentioned in the last note, p. 52. 

35. See Pitre, vol. I. p. 23. The three stories in one are called 
Donna Viulanti (Palermo) and Lu Frati e hi Soru (Salaparuta). 

36. See Chapter I. note 7. 

37. The Italian versions are : Pitre, No. 78, " Lti Zu Viritati " 
("Uncle Truth"); Gonz., No. 8, "Bauer Wahrhaft" ("Farmer 
Truth"); XII. Conti Pomiglianesi, p. 1, "Giuseppe 'A Vereta" 
(" Truthful Joseph," the version translated by us) ; p. 6, another ver- 
sion from same place and with same name; and in Straparola, III. 5. 
References to Oriental sources maybe found in Kohler's notes to Gonz., 
No. 8, and Oesterley's notes to Gesta Rom. cap. n 1. 

In addition to the Oriental elements mentioned in the third chapter, 
Stanislao Prato has discovered the story of Nala in a popular tale from 
Pitigliano (Tuscany), see S. Prato, La Leggenda indiana di Nala in 
una novella popolare pitiglianese, Como, 188 1. (Extracted from / 
Nuovi Goliardi.) 

CHAPTER IV. 

LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 

I. It is the LXXV. novel of the Testo Gualteruzzi (Biagi, p. 108) : 
Qui conta co??^e Domeneddio s' accompagtio con tin ghillare. The Lord 
once went in company with a jester. One day the former went to a 
funeral, and the latter to a marriage. The Lord called the dead to life 
again, and was richly rewarded. He gave the jester some of the money 
with which he bought a kid, roasted it and ate the kidneys himself. 
His companion asked where they were, and the jester answered that in 
that country the kids had none. The next time the Lord went to a 
wedding and the jester to a funeral, but he could not revive the dead, 
and was considered a deceiver, and condemned to the gallows. The 
Lord wished to know who ate the kidneys, but the other persisted in 
his former answer; but in spite of this the Lord raises the dead, and the 
jester is set at liberty. Then the Lord said he wished to dissolve their 
partnership, and made three piles of money, one for himself, another 
for the jester, and the third for the one who ate the kidneys. Then the 
jester said : " By my faith, now that you speak thus, I will tell you that 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 36 1 

I ate them ; I am so old that I ought not to tell lies now." So some 
things are proved by money, which a man would not tell to escape 
from death. For the sources and imitations of this story see D'Ancona, 
Le Fonti del Novellino, in the Romania, No. 10, p. 180, {Studj, p. 333). 
To D'Ancona's references may be added the following : Grimm, 147, 
"The Old Man made young again"; AsbJ0nsen and Moe, No. 21 
[Dasent, Pop. Tales, No. XIV.], Ny Samm. No. 101 [Dasent, Tales 
from the Fjeld, p. 94, "Peik"] ; Ralston, R. F. T. p. 350; Simrock's 
Deutsche Marchen, Nos. 31k (p. 148), 32 ; Romania, No. 24, p. 578, 
" Le Foie de Motiton" (E. Cosquin, Contes pop. lorrains, No. 30); 
Brueyre, p. 330 ; and an Italian version, which is simply an amplifica- 
tion of the one in the Cento nov. ant., in the recently published Ses- 
santa Nov. pop. montalesi, Nerucci, No. 31. 

2. See Jahrbuch, VII. pp. 28, 396. The professional pride of the 
smith finds a parallel in an Irish story in Kennedy, " How St. Eloi 
was punished for the sin of Pride." Before the saint became religious 
he was a goldsmith, but sometimes amused himself by shoeing horses, 
and boasted that he had never found his master in anything. One day 
a stranger stopped at his forge and asked permission to shoe his horse. 
Eloi consented, and was very much surprised to see the stranger break 
off the horse's leg at the shoulder, carry it into the smithy and shoe 
it. Then the stranger put on again the horse's leg, and asked Eloe if 
he knew any one who could do such a good piece of work. Eloi tries 
himself, and fails miserably. The stranger, who is Eloi's guardian 
angel, cures the horse, reproves the smith for his pride, and disappears. 
See Brueyre, p. 329, and Blad£, Agenais, p. 61, and Kohler's notes, p. 157. 

3. Bernoni, Punt. I. p. 1, "/ cinque brazzi de Tela?'' See Benfey, 
Pant. I. p. 497, where the same story (without the coarseness of the 
Italian version) is related of Buddha, who tells the hospitable woman 
that " what she begins shall not end until sunset." She begins to 
measure linen and it lengthens in her hands so that she continues to 
measure it all day. The envious neighbor receives the same gift, but 
before she begins to measure the linen, she thinks she will water the 
swine ; the bucket does not become empty until evening, and the whole 
neighborhood is inundated. See Benfey's parallels, ut. sup. pp. 497- 
98, and Grimm, No. 87, notes. 

4. These four legends are in Pitre, Cinque Novelline popolari sici- 
liane, Palermo, 1878. In the third story, "San Pietru e so cumpari^ 
St. Peter gets something to eat from a stingy man by a play on the 
word mussu, " snout," and cu lu mussu, " to be angry." For a similar 
story see Pitre, III. 312. A parallel to the first of the above legends 
may be found in Finamore, No. 34, IV., where are also some other 
legends of St. Peter. 

Since the above note was written, some similar legends have been 
published by Salomone Marino in the Archivio per lo Studio delle 



362 NOTES. 

Tradizioni popolari, vol. II. p. 553. One "The Just suffers for the 
Sinner " (" Chianci lu giustu pri lu piccatieri") relates how St. Peter 
complained to our Lord that the innocent were punished with the guilty. 
Our Lord made no answer, but shortly after commanded St. Peter to 
pick up a piece of honey-comb filled with bees, and put it in the bosom 
of his dress. One of the bees stung him, and St. Peter in his anger 
killed them all, and when the Lord rebuked him, excused himself by 
saying : " How could I tell among so many bees which one stung me ? " 
The Lord answered : "Am I wrong then, when I punish men likewise ? 
Chianci lu giustu pri lu piccaturi." 

Another legend relates the eagerness of St. Peter's sister to marry. 
Thrice she sent her brother to our Lord to ask his consent, and thrice 
the Lord, with characteristic patience, answered : " Tell her to do what 
she wishes." 

A third legend explains why some are rich and some are poor in this 
world. Adam and Eve had twenty-four children, and one day the Lord 
passed by the house, and the parents concealed twelve of their children 
under a tub. The Lord, at the parents' request, blessed the twelve 
with riches and happiness. After he had departed, the parents realized 
what they had done, and called the Master back. When he heard that 
they had told him a falsehood about the number of their children, he 
replied that the blessing was bestowed and there was no help for it. 
" Oh ! " said Adam in anguish, " what will become of them ? " The 
Lord replied : " Let those who are not blessed serve the others, and let 
those who are blessed support them." " And this is why in the world 
half are rich and half are poor, and the latter serve the former, and the 
former support the latter." 

The last of these legends which I shall mention is entitled : " All 
things are done for money." (" Tutti cosi st(' fatti pri dinari") 
There once died a poor beggar who had led a pious life, and was des- 
tined for paradise. When his soul arrived at the gate and knocked, 
St. Peter asked who he was and told him to wait. The poor soul 
waited two months behind the gate, but St. Peter did not open it for 
him. Meanwhile, a wealthy baron died and went, exceptionally, to 
paradise. His soul did not need even to knock, for the gate was thrown 
open, and St. Peter exclaimed : " Throw open the gate, let the baron 
pass ! Come in Sir Baron, your servant, what an honor ! " The soul 
of the beggar squeezed in, and said to himself : " The world is not the 
only one who worships money ; in heaven itself there is this law, that 
all things are done for money." 

5. Pitre, No. 126, where other Sicilian versions are mentioned. A 
version from Siena is in T. Gradi, Proverbi e Modi di dire, p. 23, re- 
peated in the same author's Saggio di Letture varie, p. 52, and fol- 
lowed by an article by Tommaseo, originally printed in the Institutore 
of Turin, in which Servian and Greek parallels are given. Besides 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 363 

the Venetian variant mentioned in the text, there are versions from 
Umbria and Piedmont cited by Pitre, a Tuscan one in Nov. tosc. No. 
26, and one from the Tyrol in Schneller, No. 4. Pitre, in his notes to 
Nov. tosc. No. 26, mentions several other versions from Piedmont, 
Friuli, and Benevento. An exact version is also found in Corsica : 
see Ortoli, p. 235. 

6. This reminds one of the " Sabbath of the Damned : " see Dou- 
het, Dictionnaire des Le'gendes, Paris, 1855, p. 1040. 

7. Pitre, in a note to this story, mentions several proverbial sayings 
in which Pilate's name occurs : " To wash one's hands of the matter 
like Pilate," and " To come into a thing like Pilate in the Creed," to 
express engaging in a matter unwillingly, or to indicate something that 
is mal a propos. 

8. Pitre, I. p. cxxxvii., and Pitre, Appunti di Botanica popolare si- 
ciliana, in the Rivista Europea, May, 1875, P- 44 1 - 

9. Pitre, I. p. cxxxviii. 

10. This legend is mentioned in a popular Sicilian legend in verse, 
see Pitre, Canti pop. sic. II. p. 368, and is the subject of a chap-book, 
the title of which is given by Pitre, Fiabe, vol. IV. p. 397. 

n. Preghiere pop. veneziane raccolte da Dom. Giuseppe Bernoni, 
p. 18. 

12. Pitre, I. p. cxxxiii. For earlier appearances of the Wandering 
Jew in Italian literature, see A. D'Ancona, La Leggenda dell' Ebreo 
errante, Nuova Antologia, serie II. vol. XXIII. 1880, p. 425 ; Roma- 
nia, vol. X. p. 212, Le Juif errant en Italia au XIII e siecle, G. Paris 
and A. D'Ancona; vol. XII. p. 112, Encore le Juif errant en Italie, 
A. D'Ancona, and Giornale Storico, vol. III. p. 231, R. Renier, where 
an Italian text of the XVIII. cent, is printed for the first time. The 
myth of the Wandering Jew can best be studied in the following re- 
cent works : G. Paris, Le Juif Errant, Extrait de V Encyclopedic des 
Sciences Religieuses, Paris, 1880 ; Dr. L. Neubaur, Die Sage vom ewi- 
gen Juden, Leipzig, 1884; P. Cassel, A/tasverus, die Sage vom ewi- 
gen Juden, Berlin, 1885. The name Buttadeu (Buttadaeus in the 
Latin texts of the XVII. cent.) has been explained in various ways. 
It is probably from the Ital. verb buttare, to thrust away, and dio, God. 

13. Crivoliu is a corruption of Gregoriu, Gregory, and the legend is, 
as Kohler says, a peculiar transformation of the well-known legend of 
" Gregory on the Stone." For the legend in general, see A. D'An- 
cona's Introduction to the Leggenda di Vergogna e la Leggenda di 
Giuda, Bologna, 1869, and F. Lippold, Ueber die Quelle des Gregorius 
Hartmanrts von Aue, Leipzig, 1869, p. 50 et sea. See also Pitre's 
notes to No. 117. An example of this class of stories from Cyprus 
may be found in the Jahrb. XL p. 357. 

14. See Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 90, and Sacre Rappresentasioni 
del Secoli XIV.-XVL raccolte e illustrate di A. D'Ancona, Florence, 



364 NOTES. 

1872, III. p. 435. There is another legend of St. James of Galicia in 
Busk, p. 208, entitled " The Pilgrims." A husband and wife make the 
usual vow to St. James that if he will give them children they will 
make the pilgrimage to Santiago. When the children are fifteen and 
sixteen the parents start on the pilgrimage, taking with them the son, 
and leaving the daughter in charge of a priest, who wrote slanderous 
letters about her, whereupon the son returned suddenly, slew his sis- 
ter, and threw her body in a ditch. A king's son happened to pass by, 
found the body, and discovered that it still contained life. He had her 
cured, and married her, and they afterwards became king and queen. 
While the king was once at war, the viceroy tempted the queen, and 
when she would not listen to him, killed her two children and slan- 
dered her to the king. The queen took the bodies of the children 
and wandered about until she met the Madonna, who took the chil- 
dren, and the queen went to Galicia. The king and viceroy also made 
a pilgrimage to the same place where the queen's parents had dwelt 
since the supposed death of their daughter. All met at the saint's 
shrine and forgave each other, and the Madonna restored the children 
alive and well. 

There are two or three other stories in Pitre and Gonz. in which 
saints appear in the rdle of good fairies, aiding the hero when in 
trouble. One of these stories, " The Thankful Dead " (Gonz., No. 
74), has already been mentioned in Chapter II. p. 131 ; two others may 
be briefly mentioned here. The first is Gonz., No. 74, " Of one who 
by the help of St. Joseph won the king's daughter." A king pro- 
claims that he will give his daughter to any one who builds a ship that 
will go by land and water. The youngest of three brothers constructs 
such a vessel by the help of St. Joseph, after his two brothers have 
failed. The saint, who is not known to the youth, accompanies him 
on the voyage on the condition that he shall receive the half of every- 
thing that the youth receives. During the voyage they take on board 
a man who can fill a sack with mist, one who can tear up half a forest 
and carry the trees on his back, a man who can drink up half a river, 
one who can always hit what he shoots at, and one who walks with 
such long steps that when one foot is in Catania the other is in Mes- 
sina. The king refuses to give his daughter to the youth in spite of 
the ship that goes by land and water. The youth, however, by the 
help of his wonderful servants and St. Joseph, fulfils all the king's re- 
quirements, and carries away the princess. When the youth returned 
home with his bride and treasures, St. Joseph called on him to fulfil 
his promise to him. The youth gives him half of his treasures, and 
even half of the crown he had won. The saint reminds him that the 
best of his possessions yet remains undivided, — his bride. The 
youth determines to keep his promise, draws his sword, and is about 
to cut his bride in two, when St. Joseph reveals himself, blesses the 
pair, and disappears. 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 365 

This story is sometimes found as a version of the " Thankful 
Dead," see Chapter II. note 12. The second story is Pitre, No. 116, 
" St. Michael the Archangel and one of his devotees," of which there 
is a version in Gonz., No. 76, called, " The Story of Giuseppino." In 
the first version a child, Pippino, is sold by his parents to the king in 
order to obtain the means to duly celebrate the feast of St. Michael, 
to whom they were devoted. The child is brought up in the palace as 
the princess's playmate ; but when he grows up the king is anxious to 
get rid of him, and so sends him on a voyage in an unseaworthy ves- 
sel. St. Michael appears to the lad, and tells him to load the ship 
with salt. They set sail, and the rotten ship is about to go to pieces, 
when the saint appears and changes the ship into a vessel all of gold. 
They sell the cargo to a king who has never tasted salt before, and re- 
turn to their own country wealthy. The next voyage Pippino, by the 
saint's advice, takes a cargo of cats, which they sell to the king of a 
country overrun by mice. Pippino returns and marries the king's 
daughter. In the version in Gonz., Giuseppino is a king's son, who 
leaves his home to see the world, and becomes the stable-boy of the 
king whose daughter he marries. The three cargoes are : salt, cats, 
and uniforms. On the last voyage, Giuseppino captures a hostile fleet, 
and makes his prisoners put on -the uniforms he has in his ship. With 
this army he returns, and compels the king to give him his daughter. 
St. Joseph acts the same part in this version as St. Michael in Pitre's. 

The story of " Whittington and his Cat " will at once occur to the 
reader. See Pitre's notes to No. 116, and vol. IV. p. 395, and Kdhler 
to Gonz., No. y6. 

15. Kohler has no note on this legend, and I have been unable to 
find in the list of saints any name of which Oniria or Neria may be a 
corruption. 

16. The references to this story will best be found in Pauli's Schimpf 
unci Ernst, ed. Oesterley, No. 682, and in the same editor's notes to the 
Gesta Romanorum, cap. 80. To these may be added a story by De 
Trueba in his Narraciones populares, p. 65, entitled, " Las Dudas de 
San Pedro;'''' Luzel, Legendes Chretiennes, I. 282, II. 4 ; Fiore di 
Virtu, Naples, 1870, p. 68; Etienne de Bourbon, No. 396 {Anec- 
dotes historiques, legendes et apologues tire's du Receuil inedit d'Etienne 
de Bourbon, pub. pour la Socie'te' de l'Hist. de France par A. Lecoy de 
la Marche, Paris, 1877. 

Since the above was written, several important contributions to the 
literature of this story have been made. The first in point of time and 
importance is a paper by Gaston Paris in the Comptes Rendus of the 
Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol. VIII. pp. 427-449 
(reprinted in La Poesie du Moyen Age, Lecons et Lectures par Gaston 
Paris, Paris, 1885). Next may be mentioned " The Literary History 
of ParneWs Hermit," by W. E. A. Axon, London, 1881 (reprinted 



366 NOTES. 

from the Seventh Volume of the Third Series of Memoirs of the Man- 
chester Literary and Philosophical Society, Session 1879-80). An Ice- 
landic version is in Islendzk Aeventyri, fsldndische Legenden, Novel- 
len und Mdrchen, herausgegeben von Hugo Gering, Halle, 1884, vol. 
II. p. 247. The legend is clearly shown by Gaston Paris to be of 
Jewish origin. 

17. There is another version of this story in Gonz., No. 86, " Von 
dem frommen Kinde " (" The Pious Child "), Kohler in his notes cites 
Grimm's Children's Legends, No. 9, and Schneller, No. 1. In this last 
story a pious child is cruelly treated by his step-mother, and leaves his 
home to live in a convent. One day he notices in a corner a neglected 
crucifix covered with dust and cobwebs. He sees how thin the figure 
is, and at meal-time brings his food where the crucifix is and begins to 
feed the image, which opens its mouth and eats with appetite. As the 
image grows stouter the pious child grows thinner. The Superior 
learns one day the fact, and tells the child to ask the Lord to invite 
him and the Superior to his table. The next day both die suddenly 
after mass. 

In a story in Gonz., No. 47, "Of the pious youth who went to 
Rome," the youth talks to the image on the crucifix in a familiar way, 
and receives information about questions put to him by various per- 
sons. The youth also dies suddenly at the end of the story. 

18. Pitre, No. 11 1. Another Sicilian version is in Gonz., No. 88, 
" The Story of Spadonia." Spadonia is the son of a king, who every 
day has bread baked and sent to the souls in purgatory by means of 
an ass sent for that purpose by the Lord. Spadonia becomes king, 
and sends one of his servants, Peppe, to see where the ass goes. 
Peppe crosses a river of clear water, one of milk, and one of blood. 
Then he sees the thin oxen in a rich pasture, and the reverse ; in ad- 
dition he beholds a forest with small and large trees together, and a 
handsome youth cutting down now a large tree, now a small one, with 
a single stroke of a bright axe. Then he passed through a door with 
the ass, and sees St. Joseph, and St. Peter, and all the saints, and 
among them God the Father. Farther on Peppe sees many saints, 
and among them the parents of Spadonia. Finally Peppe comes where 
the Saviour and his Mother are on a throne. The Lord says to him 
that Spadonia must marry a maiden named Secula, and open an inn, in 
which any one may eat and lodge without cost. The Lord then ex- 
plains what Peppe has seen. The river of water is the good deeds of 
men which aid and refresh the poor souls in purgatory ; the river of 
milk is that with which Christ was nourished ; and the river of blood 
that shed for sinners. The thin cattle are the usurers, the fat, the poor 
who trust in God, the youth felling the trees is Death. 

Peppe returns and tells his master all he had seen, and Spad6nia 
wanders forth in search of a maiden called Secula. He finds at last a 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 367 

poor girl so called, and marries her, and opens an inn as he had been 
directed. After a time the Lord and his Apostles visit the inn, and the 
king and his wife wait on them, and treat them with the utmost con- 
sideration. The next day after they had departed Spadonia and his 
wife find out who their guests were, and hasten after them in spite of 
a heavy storm. When they overtake the Lord they ask pardon for 
their sins, and eternal happiness for all belonging to them. The Lord 
grants their request, and tells them to be prepared at Christmas, when 
he will come for them. They return home, give all their property to 
the poor, and at Christmas they confess, take communion, and die 
peacefully near each other, together with Secula's old parents. 

This curious legend has no parallels in Italy out of Sicily. It is, 
however, found in the rest of Europe, the best parallel being V Homme 
aux dents rouges, in Blade", Agenais, p. 52. Kdhler cites Blade", Contes 
et proverbes pop. rec. en Ar?nagnac, p. 59, and AsbJ0rnsen, No. 62 
[Dasent, Tales from the Fjeld, p. 160, "Friends in Life and Death"]. 
To these may be added the story in Schneller, p. 215, and the refer- 
ences given by Kohler in his notes to Gonz., No. 88. 

19. See Champfleury, De la litterature popitlaire en France. Re- 
cherches sur les origines et les variations de la le'gende du bonhomme 
Misere, Paris, 1861. It contains a reprint of the oldest yet known 
edition of the chap-book, that of 1719. The most valuable references 
to the legend in general will be found (besides the above work, and 
Grimm's notes to Nos. 81, 82) in the Jahrb. V. pp. 4, 23; VII. 128, 
268; and in Pitre's notes, vol. III. p. 63, and IV. pp. 398, 439. All the 
Italian versions are mentioned in the text or following notes. To the 
stories from the various parts of Europe mentioned in the articles 
above cited, may be added Webster, Basque Legends, pp. 195, 199. 
Since this note was written another Tuscan version has been published 
by Pitre in his Nov. tosc. No. 28, who cites in his notes : Ortoli, p. 1, 
§ 1, No. XXII. (Corsica) ; and two literary versions in Cintio de' Fa- 
britii, Venice, 1726, Origine de 1 volgari proverbi, and Domenico Batac- 
chi in his Novelle galanti : La Vita e la Morte di Prete Ulivo. 

20. See Pitre, No. 125. 

21. See Busk, p. 178. 

22. See Busk, p. 183. 

23. Novelline di Sto. Stefano, No. XXXII. A version from Mon- 
ferrato is found in Comparetti, No. 34, entitled, "La Morte Burlata " 
(" Death Mocked "), in which a schoolmaster, who is a magician, tells 
one of his scholars that he will grant him every day any favor he may 
ask. The first day the scholar asks that any one who climbs his pear- 
tree must remain there ; the second day he asks that whoever ap- 
proaches his fireplace to warm himself must stay there ; and finally 
he asks to win always with a pack of cards that he has. When the 
possessor of these favors has lived a hundred years Death comes for 



368 NOTES. 

him, but is made to climb the tree, and is forced to grant the owner 
another hundred years of life. The fireplace procures another res- 
pite, and then the man dies and goes to paradise ; but the Lord will not 
admit him, for he had not asked for mercy. Hell will not receive him, 
for he had been a good man ; so he goes to the gate of purgatory and 
begins playing cards, with souls for stakes, and wins enough to form a 
regiment. Then he goes to paradise, and the Lord tells him he can 
enter alone. But he persists in going in with all those who are at- 
tached to him ; so all the souls enter too. 

24. Novelline di Sto. Stefano, No. 33. A similar story, told in 
greater detail, is in Schneller, No. 17, " Der Stoftselwirth" ("The 
Tapster"). A generous host ruins himself by his hospitality, and 
borrows money of the Devil for seven years ; if he cannot repay it 
his soul is to belong to the lender. The host continues his liberality, 
and at the end of seven years is poorer than before. The Lord, St. 
Peter, and St. John come to the tavern and tell the landlord to ask 
three favors. He asks that whoever climbs his fig-tree may remain 
there ; whoever sits on his sofa must stay there ; and finally, whoever 
puts his hands in a certain chest must keep them there. The Devil 
first sends his eldest son after the money. The host sends him up the 
fig-tree, and then gives him a sound beating. Then the Devil sends 
his second son, whom the landlord invites to sit on his sofa, and gives 
him a sound thrashing too. Finally the Devil himself comes, and the 
host tells him to get his money himself out of the chest. The Devil 
sticks fast, and is set free only on condition of renouncing all claims 
to the landlord's soul. 

The conclusion of the story is like that of " Beppo Pipetta." 
There is another story about a bargain with the Devil in the Novel- 
line di Sto. Stefano, No. 35, " Le Donne ne sanno un -punto piu del 
diavolo v (" Women know a point more than the Devil"). A fowler 
sells his soul to the Devil for twelve years of life and plenty of birds. 
When the time is nearly up the fowler's wife persuades him to alter 
his bargain with the Devil a little. The latter is to give up his claim 
if the former can find a bird unknown to the Devil. The Devil con- 
sents, and comes the last day and recognizes easily every bird, until 
finally the fowler's wife, disguised with tar and feathers, comes out of 
a case and frightens the fowler and the Devil so that he runs away. 

The mysterious bird recalls the one in Grimm, No. 46, " Fitcher's 
Bird." 

25. yahrbuch,Yll. 121. The wonderful sack occurs in another Vene- 
tian story, Widter-Wolf, No. 14, " Der Hollenpfortner " (" The Porter 
of Hell "). The gifts are : a gun that never misses, a violin that 
makes every one dance, and a sack into which every one must spring 
when commanded by the owner. See Kohler's notes to this story, 
Jahrb. VII. 268. A Corsican version is in Ortoli, p. 155. The epi- 



LEGENDS AND GHOST STORIES. 369 

sode of the Devil beaten in the sack is also found in Comparetti, No. 
49, u Il Ramaio." A wandering smith gives alms to St. Peter and the 
Lord, and receives in return a pouch like the above. When the Devil 
comes to fetch him he wishes him in his sack, and gives him a good 
pounding. When the smith dies he gets into paradise by throwing 
his bag inside and wishing himself in it. 

There are two other stories in which the Devil gets worsted : they 
are Gianandrea, No. VI., " Quattordici'''' ("Fourteen"), and Fiabe 
Mantovane, No. 11, " Pacchione." In these stories a cunning person 
is sent to the Devil to bring back a load of gold. The cunning person 
takes a long pair of tongs, catches the Devil by the nose, loads his 
horse, and returns in safety. 

The first part of the story of " Quattordici " is found in the Basque 
Legend of " Fourteen : " see Webster, p. 195. 

26. Another Venetian version is in Widter-Wolf, No. 3, " Der Ge- 
vatter Tod'''' (" Godfather Death"). There are also two Sicilian ver- 
sions : Pitre, No. 109, "La Morti e so Jigghiozzu " (" Death and her 
Godson ") ; and Gonz., No. 19, " Gevatter Tod" which do not differ 
materially from the version given in our text. References to European 
parallels maybe found in Kohler's notes to Widter-Wolf, No. 3, Jahrb. 
VII. p. 19; to Gonz., No. 19, and in Grimm's notes to No. 44. 

27. Widter-Wolf, No. 16, " Der standhafter Biisser" ("The Con- 
stant Penitent"), Jahrb. VII. p. 273. For parallels, see Kohler's ar- 
ticle, Die Legende von dem Ritter in der Capelle, Jahrb. VI. p. 326. 

28. Bernoni, Legg. fant. p. 3. The translation in text, as well as 
that of the two following stories, I have taken from The Cornhill 
Magazine, July, 1875, " Venetian Popular Legends," p. 86. 

Another story illustrating the same point is found in Pitre, No. no, 
Li Cumpari di S. Giuvanni, which is translated as follows by Ralston 
in Fraser's Magazine, April, 1876, " Sicilian Fairy Tales," p. 424. 

LXXII. THE GOSSIPS OF ST. JOHN. 

Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife, and they were 
both bound in gossipry with a certain man. The husband got ar- 
rested, and was taken away to prison. Now the gossip was very fond 
of his cummer, and used often to go and visit her. One day she said 
to him : " Gossip, shall we go and see my husband ? " " Gmirsi, cum- 
mari" (" Certainly, cummer"), said her gossip ; so off they went. On 
the way they bought a large melon — for it was the melon season — to 
take to the poor prisoner. We are but flesh and blood ! The gossip 
and his cummer sinned against St. John. In short, they brought 
things to a pretty pass. St. John was n't going to let that pass unpun- 
ished. When they had come to the prison and had visited the pris- 
oner, before going away they wanted to make a present to the jailer; 
24 



37° NOTES. 

so they gave him the melon. He cut it open before their eyes. Hor- 
ror of horrors ! When the melon was cut open, there was found in 
the middle of it a head ! Now this was the head of St. John, which 
had slipped itself in there for the purpose of bringing home their sin 
to the minds of the gossips. The matter immediately came to the 
ears of justice, and they were arrested. They confessed the wrong 
they had done. The husband was set at liberty, and the gossip and 
his cummer were sent to the gallows. 

In regard to Saint John and the relationship of godfather, see Pitre's 
note in vol. I. p. 73. 

29. Bernoni, p. 7 ; Cornhill Magazine, p. 88. 

30. Bernoni, p. 17; Cornhill Magazine, p. 89. 

31. Bernoni, p. 19. There are prose versions of the closely re- 
lated story of Don Juan in Busk, p. 202, " Don Giovanni" and in 
Nov. lose. No. 21, "Don Giovanni." There are poetical versions of 
this legend in G. Ferraro, Canti popolari raccolti a Ponlelagoscuro, 
No. 19; " La Testa di Morto" in Rivista di Filologia Romanza, vol. 
II. p. 204; Ive, Canti pop. istriani, Turin, 1877, cap. xxv. No. 6, " Li- 
onzoj " Saiomone-Marino, Leggende pop. sicil. XXVII. " Lionziu." 

32. Pitre, No. 128. The version in the text is Ralston's condensa- 
tion, taken from Frasefs Magazine, p. 433. As Pitre notes, there is 
some slight resemblance between this story and that of " Cattari- 
netta" in Schneller, No. 5, which has a close parallel in Bernoni, Trad, 
pop. venez. Punt. III. p. 76, " Nono Cocon," and one not so close in 
Papanti, Nov. pop. livor, No. I, " La Mencherina" p. 7. There is a 
close parallel to the Sicilian story in a Tuscan tale, "La Gamba" 
("The Leg"), in Novelline pop. toscane, pubb. da G. Pitre, p. 12. In a 
note Pitre mentions a variant from Pratovecchio in which the leg is of 
gold. He also gives copious references to versions from all parts of 
Europe. The English reader will recall at once Halliwell's story of 
" Teeny-Tiny " {Nursery Tales, p. 25). To the above references may 
be added : " Le Pendu " in Cosquin, Contes pop. lorrains, No. 41, in 
Romania, No. 28. p. 580. Since the above note was written, another 
Tuscan version has been published by Pitre, Nov. lose. No. 19. 

33. Pitre, No. 203. The parallels to this story may best be found in 
J. Grimm's Kleinere Schriften, III. p. 414, Der Trauni von detn Schatz 
auf der Briicke. To Grimm's references may be added : Graesse, 
Sagenschatz Sachserfs, No. 587 ; Wolf, Hesseche Sagen, No. 47 ; Kuhn, 
Westfalische Sagen, No. 169 ; and Vierzig Veziere, p. 270. 



NURSERY TALES. 37 1 

CHAPTER V. 

NURSERY TALES. 

i. The verse in this story is given somewhat differently by Bolza, 
Canzoni pop. Comasche, Vienna, 1866, Note 9: — 

" La storia de Sior Intento, 
Che dura molto tempo, 
Che mai no se destriga : 
Vole che ve la diga ? '• 

The story of Mr. Attentive, which lasts a long time, which is never 
explained, do you wish me to tell it ? 

There are in Bernoni, Punt. II. pp. S3, 54> two or three other rhymes 
of this class that may be given here. 

ONCE UPON A TIME. 

Once upon a time — that I remember — into a blind-man's eye — a 
fly went — and I thought — that it was a quail — wretched blind-man 
— go away from here ! 

ONE AND ANOTHER. 

Fiaba, aba — Questa xe una — Muro e malta — Questa xe un' altra. 
Story, ory — This is one — Wall and mud — This is another. 

" A long one and a short one, 
Do you wish me to tell you a long one ? 
This is the finger and this is the nail. 
Do you wish me to tell you a short one ? 
This is the finger and this is the end of it." 

2. Pitre, No. 141. In the notes to this story are given some more 
of this class. 

" Once upon a time there was a page who drew three carts : one of 
wine, one of bread, and one of relishes. . . . And once upon a time 
there was a page." 

Some poetical versions are given in the same place from various 
parts of Italy. 

" Once upon a time, 
An old man and an old woman 
Were on top of a mountain . . . 
Be quiet, for I am going to tell you it." 

— Naples. 

" Once upon a time there was a man 
Behind the church 
With a basket on his back . . . 
But be still if I am to tell you it ! " 

— Milan, Nov.fior. p. 570. 



3/2 NOTES. 

Some more rhymes of this class may be found in Papanti, Nov. pop. 
livor, p. 17 : " Once upon a time there was a man, whose name was 
Boccabella, who skinned his wife to make a skirt; and skinned his 
children to make some towels." 

" Once upon a time there was a man, 

A woman, and a little bottle . . . 

Listen to this ! " 
" Once upon a time there was a king 

Who ate more than you ; 

He ate bread and cheese, 

Pull, pull this nose." 

Here the speaker pulls the child's nose. 

" Once upon a time there was a rich poor man 
Who had seven daughters to marry : 
On one hand there came a felon, 
And on the other seven blisters." 

3. Rivista di Letterahira popolare, vol. I. p. 161 (1878). "Una Va- 
riante toscana della Novella del Petit Poucet." Versions from the 
Marches, the Abruzzi, and Tuscany may now be found in Giornale di 
Filologia romanza, II. p. 23 ; Finamore, Tradizioni popolari abruz- 
zesi, 1882, No. 47, p. 233 ; and Nov. tosc. No. 42. 

4. The myth of " Tom Thumb " has been thoroughly examined in an 
admirable monograph : Le Petit Poucet et la Grande Ourse par Gas- 
ton Paris, Paris, 1875. The author says in conclusion (p. 52): "Si 
nous cherchons enfin quels sont les peuples qui nous offrent soit ce 
conte, soit cette denomination, nous voyons qu'ils comprennent essen- 
tiellement les peuples slaves (lithuanien, esclavon) et germaniques (al- 
lemand, danois, suddois, anglais). Les contes des Albanais, des Rou- 
mains et des Grecs modernes sont sans doute emprunte's aux Slaves, 
comme une tres-grande parti e de la mythologie populaire de ces na- 
tions. Le nom wallon et le conte forezien nous montrent en France 
(ainsi que le titre du conte de Perrault) la legende de Poucet : mais 
elle a pu fort bien, comme tant d'autres rdcits semblables, y etre ap- 
portee par les Germains. Ni en Italie, ni en Espagne, ni dans les 
pays celtiques je n'ai trouve* trace du conte ou du nom." This latter 
statement must now, of course, be modified. To the references in 
Paris' book may be added : Romania, No. 32, p. 59 (Cosquin, No. 53), 
and Kohler in Zeit.f. rom. Phil. III. p. 617. 

The transformation of the chick-peas into children has a parallel in 
the Greek story of " Pepper-Corn " shortly to be mentioned. 

5. The discussion of this point may best be found in the following 
works : Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England {Percy Soc. IV.), 
London, 1842, pp. 2, 159 ; Romania, I. p. 218; and Un Canto popo- 
lare piemontese e un Canto religioso popolare israelitico. Note e con- 
front di Cesare Foa, Padova, 1879. The references to the other Eu- 
ropean versions of this story may be found in Roznania, No. 28, p. 
546 (Cosquin, No. 34), and Kohler in Zeit.f. ro?n. Phil. III. 156. 



NURSERY TALES. 373 

6. Halli well's Nursery Rhymes, p. 160. 

7. There is a poetical version of this story in Vigo, Raccolta am- 
plissima di Canti pop. sicil. 2 d a ediz. Catania, 1 870-1 874, No. 4251, be- 
ginning : — 

" Susi, Bittudda 
Va scupa la casa. 
— Signura, non pozzu 
Mi doli lu cozzu," etc. 

The ending, however, is incomplete. 

8. Imbriani, Pomiglianesi, p. 232, " MiccoP 

9. The version from Siena is in Saggio di Letture varie per i Gio- 
vani di T. Gradi, Torino, 1865, p. 175, " La Novella di Petuzzo j " the 
Tuscan (Florence) version is in Imbriani, Nov. fior. p. 548, " Pe- 
truzzo.'''' Another Tuscan version may be found in Nerucci, Cincelle 
da Bambini, No. 7 ; and one from Apulia in Archivio, III. p. 69. 

10. Bernoni, Punt. III. p. 72, " Petin-Petele." 

11. The first part of this story is found also in a Tuscan version 
given by Corazzini in his Componimenti minori, p. 412, u II Cecio" 
(" The Chick-pea "). The chick-pea is swallowed by a cock, that is 
eaten by a pig, that is killed by a calf, that is killed and cooked by an 
innkeeper's wife for her sick daughter, who recovers, and is given in 
marriage to the owner of the chick-pea. 

The sexton's doubt as to how he shall invest the money he has 
found is a frequent trait in Italian stories, and is found in several men- 
tioned in this chapter. See notes in Papanti, Nov. pop. livor. p. 29. 
Copious references to this class of stories may be found in the Ro- 
mania, Nos. 24, p. 576, and 28, p. 548; Kohler in Zeitschrift fiir rom. 
Phil. II. 351; Grimm, No. 80; Orient und Occident, II. 123; Blade", 
Agenais, No. 5; Melusine, 148, 218, 426; and Brueyre, p. 376. See 
also Halliwell, p. 33, " The Cat and the Mouse." 

12. This version is a variant of a story in the same collection, p. 
236, which cannot well be translated, as it is mostly in rhyme. There 
is another version from Montella in the Principaio Ulteriore, p. 241, 
" Lo Haddro e lo Sorece'" ("The Cock and the Mouse"), which has a 
satirical ending. The beginning is like that of the other versions : 
the cock and the mouse go to gather pears; one falls and wounds the 
mouse's head. The mouse goes to the physician, who demands rags, 
the ragman asks for the tail of the dog. The dog demands bread, the 
baker wood, the mountain an axe ; the iron-monger says : " Go to the 
galantuomo (gentleman, wealthy person), get some money, and I will 
give you the axe." The mouse goes to the galantuomo, who says : 
" Sit down and write, and then I will give you the money." So the 
mouse begins to write for the galantuomo, but his head swells and he 
dies. A similar story is found in Corsica, see Ortoli, p. 237. 

13. It remains to mention two poetical versions : one in Corazzini, 
from Verona, op. cit. p. 139, which begins : — 



\ 



374 NOTES. 

" Cos' e questo ? 
La camera del Vesco. 
Cos' e deiitro ? 
Pan e vin," etc. 

" What is this ? The bishop's chamber. What is in it ? Bread and 
wine. Where is my share ? The cat has eaten it. Where is the 
cat ? The stick has beaten him. Where is the stick ? The fire has 
burned it. Where is the fire ? The water has quenched it. Where is 
the water ? The ox has drunk it. Where is the ox ? Out in the 
fields. Who is behind there ? My friend Matthew. What has he in 
his hand ? A piece of bread. What has he on his feet ? A pair of 
torn shoes. What has he on his back ? A whale. What has he in 
his belly ? A balance. What has he on his head ? A cap upside 
down." 

The choice of objects is determined by the rhyme, e. g. : — 

" Cosa g'alo in schena ? 
Na balena. 
Cosa g'alo in panza ? 
Una balanza." 

The second poetical version is from Turin, and is given by Foa, op. 
cit. p. 5. It begins : — 

1. " A j'era' na crava 

C a pasturava, 

A m' a rout '1 bout 

Oh '1 bon vin c'a j'era' nt '1 me bout 

L' e la crava c' a' m 1' a rout ! 

2. " A j'e riva-ie 1' luv 

L' a mangia la crava 

C a pasturava 

C a m' ha rout '1 bout," etc. {.ut supra.} 

The following is a literal prose translation of this curious version. 

" There was a goat that was feeding, it has broken my bottle. Oh, 
the good wine that was in my bottle, it is the goat that has broken it ! 
Then came the wolf that ate the goat that was feeding, that broke my 
bottle, etc. Then came the dog, that barked at the wolf, that ate the 
goat, etc. Then came the stick that beat the dog, that barked at the 
wolf, etc. Then came the fire that burned the stick, that beat the dog, 
etc. Then came the water that quenched the fire, that burned the 
stick, etc. Then came the ox, that drank the water, that quenched the 
fire, etc. Then came the butcher that killed the ox, that drank the 
water, etc. Then came the hangman that hung the butcher, that killed 
the ox, etc. Then came death, and carried away the hangman, that 
hung the butcher, etc. Then came the wind, that carried away death, 
that carried away the hangman," etc. 

A variant of this song reminds one more closely of the prose ver- 
sions. 

" Then came the hangman that hung the butcher, etc. Then came 



NURSERY TALES. 375 

the rat that gnawed the cord, that hung the butcher, etc. Then came 
the cat that ate the rat, that gnawed the cord, etc. Then came the 
dog that caught the cat, that ate the rat, that gnawed the cord," etc. 

The above Italian version, it will be clearly seen, is only a popular 
rendition of the Jewish hymn in the Sefther Haggadah. Foa, in the 
work above cited, gives another version from Orio Canarese, and also 
a number of Italian versions of the " Song of the Kid." His conclu- 
sion is the same as that of Gaston Paris in the Romania, I. p. 224, 
that the " Song of the Kid " is not of Jewish origin, but was intro- 
duced into the Haggadah from the popular song or story. 

14. A version of this story is found in Morosi's Studi sui Dialetti 
greet, Lecce, 1870. 

LXXXIX. THE GOAT AND THE FOX. 

Once upon a time a goat entered the den of the fox while the latter 
was absent. At night the fox returned home, and finding the goat fled 
because frightened by the horns. A wolf passed by, and was also ter- 
rified. Then came a hedgehog and entered the den, and pricked the 
goat with its quills. The goat came out, and the wolf killed it, and 
the fox ate it. 

1 5. Grimm, No. 30. Another version from the North of Europe is 
in AsbJ0rnsen, No. 103 [Dasent, Tales from the Fjeld, p. 30, " The 
Death of Chanticleer "]. Several French versions may be found in 
the Romania, No. 22, p. 244, and Melusine, p. 424. There is a Span- 
ish version in Caballero's Cuentos, etc., Leipzig, 1878, p. 3, " La Hor- 
miguita " ("The Little Ant "). There is a curious version in Hahn's 
Griechische und Albanesische Marchen, Leipzig, 1864, No. 56, "Pep- 
per-Corn." The story is from Smyrna, and is as follows : — 

PEPPER-CORN. 

Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman who had 
no children ; and one day the old woman went into the fields and 
picked a basket of beans. When she had finished, she looked into 
the basket and said : " I wish all the beans were little children." 
Scarcely had she uttered these words when a whole crowd of little 
children sprang out of the basket and danced about her. Such a fam- 
ily seemed too large for the old woman, so she said : " I wish you 
would all become beans again." Immediately the children climbed 
back into the basket and became beans again, all except one little 
boy, whom the old woman took home with her. 

He was so small that everybody called him little Pepper- Corn, and 
so good and charming that everybody loved him. 

One day the old woman was cooking her soup and little Pepper- 



376 NOTES. 

Corn climbed up on the kettle and looked in to see what was cooking, 
but he slipped and fell into the boiling broth and was scalded to 
death. The old woman did not notice until meal-time that he was 
missing, and looked in vain for him everywhere to call him to dinner. 

At last they sat down to the table without little Pepper-Corn, and 
when they poured the soup out of the kettle into the dish the body of 
little Pepper-Corn floated on top. 

Then the old man and the old woman began to mourn and cry: 
" Dear Pepper-Corn is dead, dear Pepper-Corn is dead." 

When the dove heard it she tore out her feathers, and cried : " Dear 
Pepper- Corn is dead. The old man and the old woman are mourn- 
ing." 

When the apple-tree saw that the dove tore out her feathers it asked 
her why she did so, and when it learned the reason it shook off all its 
apples. 

In like manner, the well near by poured out all its water, the queen's 
maid broke her pitcher, the queen broke her arm, and the king threw 
his crown on the ground so that it broke into a thousand pieces ; and 
when his people asked him what the matter was, he answered : " Dear 
Pepper-Corn is dead, the old man and the old woman mourn, the dove 
has torn out her feathers, the apple-tree has shaken off all its apples, 
the well has poured out all its water, the maid has broken her pitcher, 
the queen has broken her arm, and I, the king, have lost my crown ; 
dear Pepper-Corn is dead." 

See also Benfey, Pant. I. p. 191. There is also a version in Morosi, 
op. cit., given by Imbriani in Pomiglianesi, p. 268 ; and mention is 
made of one from the Abruzzi in Finamore, Trad. pop. abruszesi, p. 
244. 

16. In addition to the versions mentioned in the text, Imbriani (Po- 
miglianesi, pp. 250, 252) gives two versions from Lecco. 

The following version is found in Morosi, p. 72>- 

XC. THE ANT AND THE MOUSE. 

There was once an ant who, while sweeping her house one day, 
found three quattrini, and began to say : " What shall I buy ? What 
shall I buy ? Shall I buy meat ? No, because meat has bones, and I 
should choke. Shall I buy fish ? No, for fish has bones, and I should 
be scratched." After she had mentioned many other things, she con- 
cluded to buy a red ribbon. She put it on, and sat in the window. An 
ox passed by and said : " How pretty you are ! do you want me for 
your husband ? " She said : " Sing, so that I may hear your voice." 
The ox with great pride raised his voice. After the ant had heard it, 
she said : " No, no, you frighten me." 



NURSERY TALES. 377 

A dog passed by, and the same happened to him as to the ox. After 
many animals had passed, a little mouse went by and said : " How 
pretty you are ! do you want me for your husband ? " She said : 
" Let me hear you sing." The mouse sang, and went pi, pi, pi ! His 
voice pleased the ant, and she took him for her husband. 

Sunday came, and while the ant was with her friends, the mouse 
said : " My dear little ant, I am going to see whether the meat that you 
have put on the fire is done." He went, and when he smelled the odor 
of the meat, he wanted to take a little; he put in one paw and burned 
it ; he put in the other, and burned that too ; he stuck in his nose, and 
the smoke drew him into the pot, and the poor little mouse was all 
burned. The ant waited for him to eat. She waited two, she waited 
three hours, the mouse did not come. When she could wait no longer, 
she put the dinner on the table. But when she took out the meat, out 
came the mouse dead. When she saw him the ant began to weep, and 
all her friends ; and the ant remained a widow, because he who is a 
mouse must be a glutton. If you don't believe it, go to her house and 
you will see her. 

17. Other Italian versions are: Pitre, No. 136, " Li VecchV ("The 
Old Folks ") ; and Nov.fior. p. 567, " The Story of Signor Donato." 

18. There are two versions of this story in Pitre, No. 139, and notes. 
They differ but little from the one we have translated. An Istrian ver- 
sion is in Ive, Fiabe pop. rovignesi, 1878, No. 4, " I tri fardai," and a 
Corsican one in Ortoli, p. 278. 

19. Other Italian versions are : Coronedi-Berti, p. 49, " La Fola cP 
Zanninein ; " and Bernoni, Trad. pop. p. 79, " Rosseto." 

20. There is another Italian version in Fiabe Mantovane, No. 31, 
" The Wolf." The only parallel I can find to this story out of Italy is 
a negro story in Lippincotf s Magazine, December, 1877, "Folk- Lore 
of the Southern Negroes," p. 753, " Tiny Pig." Allusion is made to 
the Anglo-Saxon story of the " Three Blue Pigs," but I have been 
unable to find it. 

21. A Sicilian version is in Pitre, No. 278, " L? Acidduzzu " (" Little 
Bird "), and one from Tuscany in Nerucci, Cincelle da Bambini, 
No. 12. 

22. Kohler, in his notes to this story, gives parallels from various 
parts of Europe. To these may be added Asbjarnsen and Moe, Nos. 
42, 102 [Dasent, Tales from the Fjeld, p. 35, "The Greedy Cat"]. 
Comp. Halliwell, p. 29, "The story of Chicken-licken." A French 
version is in the Romania, No. 32, p. 554 (Cosquin, No. 45), where 
copious references to this class of stories may be found. Add to 
these those by Kohler in Zeitschrift fiir rom. Phil. III. p. 617. 



378 NOTES. 

CHAPTER VI. 

STORIES AND JESTS. 

i. A well-known literary version of this story is Sachetti, Nov. IV. 
Copious references to this popular story will be found in Oesterley's 
notes to Pauli's Schimpf und Ernst, No. 55 ; see also Pitre, IV. pp. 
392, 437. The entire literature of the subject is summed up in a mas- 
terly manner by Professor F. J. Child in English and Scottish Pop- 
ular Ballads, Part II. p. 403. 

2. There is a version from Siena in Gradi, Saggio di Letture varie, 
p. 179, "Tea, Tecla e Teopistay" and from Rome in Busk, pp. 357, 
367. References to other European versions of this story may be 
found in Grimm, Nos. 34, 104; Schneller, No. 56, "Die narrischen 
Weiberj" Zingerle, Mdrchen, I. No. 14; Dasent's Tales from the 
Norse, p. 191, " Not a Pin to choose between Them " (Asbj. & M., No. 
10) ; Ralston, R. E. T. pp. 52-54 ; Jahrbuch, V. 3, Kohler to Cenac 
Moncaut's Contes pop. de la Gascogne, p. 32, " Maitre Jean Vhabile 
Ho7nme j " Orient tmd Occident, II. p. 319 ; Kohler to Campbell, No. 
20, " The Three Wise Men," p. 686, to No. 48, " Sgire Mo Chealag." 

3. This story is sometimes found as one of the episodes of the last 
tale, as for example in Schneller, No. 56. Imbriani, Pomiglianesi, p. 
227, cites as parallels : Coronedi-Berti, XII. " Lafola dla Pataloccaf 
Beroaldo di Verville, Le Moyen de Parvenir, LXXVIII. ; and a story 
in La Civilta italiana, 1865, No. 13. See also Ro7>iania, VI. p. 551 
(E. Cosquin, Contes pop. lorrains, No. 22), and Jahrb. VIII. 267, 
Kohler to the above cited story in the Civilta ital. from Calabria. It 
is also the story of " The Miser and his Wife " in Halliwell, p. 31. 

4. There is a literary version in Straparola, VIII. 1. Other literary 
versions are cited in Pitre, IV. p. 443. 

5. Pitre, No. 257, where references to other Italian versions may be 
found. See also Pitre, IV. pp.412 and 447; and Kohler's notes to 
Blade, Contes pop. recueillis en Agenais, p. 155, for other European 
versions. Additional references may be found in Oesterley's notes to 
Pauli's Schimpf und Ernst, No. 595. A similar story is in Pitre's 
Nov. tosc. No. 67. 

6. Pitre, No. 180. A literary version is in Straparola, VIII. 6. For 
other references see Schmidt, Straparola, p. 329 ; and Oesterley's notes 
to Pauli's Schimpf und Ernst, No. 357. 

7. This story is found in Gonz., No. J^, " Von Firrazsanu" and is 
(with the queen's attempt to punish him for it) the only joke in that 
collection relating to Firrazzanu. A literary version is in Bandello, 
Novelle, IV. 27. 

8. See Pitre, No. 156, var. 5 (III. p. 181). 



STORIES AND JESTS. 379 

9. Imbriani in his notes to Pitre (IV. p. 41 7) gives a French version 
of this joke entitled : Un Neveti pratique. 

10. The name Giufa is retained in many localities with slight 
phonetic changes. Thus it is Giuca in Trapani ; Giuxa in the Alba- 
nian colonies in Sicily ; in Acri, Giuvali ; and in Tuscany, Rome, and 
the Marches, Giucca. Pitre, III. p. 371, adds that the name Giufa is 
the same as that of an Arab tribe. The best known continental coun- 
terparts of Giufa are Bertoldino and Cacasenno (see Olindo Guerrini, 
La Vita e le Ofiere di Giulio Cesar e Croce, Bologna, 1879, PP- 257—279). 
Tuscan versions of the stories of Giufa given in the text may be found 
in Nov. tosc. pp. 179-193. 

1 1. The same story is told by Miss Busk, " The Booby," p. 371, and 
is in the Pent. I. 4. It is probably founded on the well-known fable of 
^sop, '■'■Homo fractor simulacri " (ed. Furia, No. 21), which seems very 
widely spread. A Russian version, from AfanasiefF, is in De Gub., 
Zool. Myth. I. p. 176. See also Benfey, Pant. I. p. 478 ; and Kohler 
to Gonz., No. 37. 

12. In Gonz., No. 37, Giufa takes the cloth, and on his way to the 
dyer's sits down to rest on a heap of stones in a field. A lizard creeps 
out from the stones, and Giufa, taking it for the dyer, leaves the cloth 
on the stones and returns home. His mother, of course, sends him 
immediately back for the cloth, but it has disappeared, as well as the 
lizard. Giufa cries : " Dyer, if you don't give me back my cloth I will 
tear down your house." Then he begins to pull down the heap of 
stones, and finds a pot of money which had been hidden there. He 
takes it home to his mother, who gives him his supper and sends him 
to bed, and then buries the money under the stairs. Then she fills her 
apron with figs and raisins, climbs upon the roof, and throws figs and 
raisins down the chimney into Giufa's mouth as he lies in his bed. 
Giufa is well pleased with this, and eats his fill. The next morning he 
tells his mother that the Christ child has thrown him figs and raisins 
from heaven the night before. Giufa cannot keep the pot of money a 
secret, but tells every one about it, and finally is accused before the 
judge. The officers of justice go to Giufa's mother and say : " Your 
son has everywhere told that you have kept a pot of money which he 
found. Do you not know that money that is found must be delivered 
up to the court ? " The mother protests that she knows nothing about 
the money, and that Giufa is always telling stupid stories. "But 
mother," said Giufa, " don't you remember when I brought you home 
the pot, and in the night the Christ child rained figs and raisins from 
heaven into my mouth ? " " There, you see how stupid he is," says 
the mother, " and that he does not know what he says." The officers 
of justice go away thinking, " Giufa is too stupid ! " 

Kohler, in his Notes to Gonz., No. 37, cites as parallels to the 
above, Pent. I. 4, and Thousand and One Nights, Breslau trans. XI. 



380 NOTES. 

144. For the rain of figs and raisins he refers to Jahrb. VIII. 266 and 
268; and to Campbell, II. 385, for a shower of milk porridge. See 
Note 16 of this chapter, and Indian Fairy Tales, p. 257. 

13. See Max Midler's Chips, II. p. 229, and Benfey, Pant. I. p. 293. 

14. See Imbriani, Nov. fior. p. 545 ; Papanti, Nov. pop. livor. No. 
3 ; and Bernoni, Punt. III. p. 83. 

15. See Robert, Fables inedites, II. p. 136. The Italian literary ver- 
sions are: Morlini, XXI., Straparola, XIII. 4; and two stories men- 
tioned by Imbriani in his Nov. fior. pp. 545, 546. 

16. This episode is in Strap. XIII. 4; Pitre, IV. p. 291, gives a ver- 
sion from the Albanian colony of Piana de' Greci, sixteen miles from 
Palermo. In the same vol., p. 444, he gives a variant from Erice in 
which, after Giufa has killed the " canta-la-notti,''' his mother climbs a 
fig-tree and rains down figs into the mouth of Giufa, who is standing 
under. In this way she saves herself from the accusation of having 
thrown a murdered man into the well. See Note 12. For another Si- 
cilian version of this episode see Gonz., No. 37 (I. p. 252). 

17. Papanti, p. 65. Copious references will be found in Papanti, pp. 
72-81 ; Oesterley to Pauli, Schhnpf und Ernst, No. 416; and Kirchof, 
WendummUh, I. 122; and Kohler's notes to Sercambi's Novels in 
Jahrb. XII. p. 351. 

18. Kohler, in his notes to Gonz., No. 37 (II. p. 228), cites for this 
story: Thousand and One Days, V. 119; Petit. I. 4; Grimm, II. 382; 
Morlini, No. 49; Zingerle, I. 255; Bebelius, Facetice, I. 21 ; Blade*, 
Contes et Proverbes, Paris, 1867, p. 21 ; and Bertoldino (Florence, 
Salani), p. 31, " Bertoldino entra nella cesta delP oca a covare in cambio 
di lei:'' In the story in the Fiabe Mant. No. 44, "// Pazzo " (" The 
Fool "), the booby kills his own mother by feeding her too much mac- 
aroni when she is ill. 

19. See Pitre, No. 190, var. 9; Jahrb. V. 18; Simrock, Deutsche 
Mdrchen, No. 18 {Orient und Occident, III. p. 373) ; Hahn, No. 34; 
Jahrb. VIII. 267; Mehisine, p. 89; Nov. fior. p. 601 ; Romatiia, VI. 
p. 551 ; Busk, pp. 369, 374; and Fiabe Mant. No. 44. 

In the Sicilian stories Giufa simply takes the door off its hinges and 
carries it to his mother, who is in church. In the other Italian ver- 
sions the booby takes the door with him, and at night carries it up 
into a tree. Robbers come and make a division of their booty under 
the tree, and the booby lets the door fall, frightens them away, and 
takes their money himself. 

20. See Kohler's notes to Gonz., II. p. 228. To these may be added, 
for the story of Giufa planting the ears and tails of the swine in the 
marsh: Ortoli, p. 208: Melusine, p. 474; and Romania, VII. p. 556, 
where copious references to parallels from all of Europe may be found. 
In the story in Ortoli, cited above, the priest's mother is killed, as in 
text. 



STORIES AND JESTS. 38 1 

21. For the literal throwing of eyes, see : Jahrb. V. p. 19; Grimm, 
No. 32 (I. p. 382) ; Nov.fior. p. 595 ; Webster, Basque Legends, p. 69 ; 
Orient und Occident, II. 684 (Kohler to Campbell, No. 45). 

22. See Gonz., Nos. 70, 71, and Kohler's notes, II. p. 247. Other 
Italian versions are : De Gub., Sio. Stefano, No. 30 ; Widter-Wolf, 
No. 18, and Kohler's notes (Jahrb. VII. 282); Strap., I. 3: Nov.fior. 
p. 604; Fiabe Mant. No. 13. To these may be added : Romania, V. 
p. 357 ; VI. p. 539 ; and VIII. p. 570. 

23. See Pitre's notes, IV. pp. 124, 412; and F. Liebrecht in the 
Academy, vol. IV. p. 421. 

24. See Pitre's notes, IV. pp. 140, 448 ; Wright's Latin Stories, pp. 
49, 226. 

25. Pitre, No. 290. See Papanti, op. cit. p. 197, where other versions 
are cited. To these may be added the story in Marcolf, see Guerrini, 
Vita di G. C. Croce, p. 215; and Marcolphus, Hoc est Disputationis, 
etc., in Epistola obscuror, vivoricm, Frankf. a. M., 1643, p. 593. 

There is another story in Pitre (No. 200) which is also attributed to 
Dante. It is called : — >- 



CVI. PETER FULLONE AND THE EGG. 

Once upon a time Peter Fullone, the stone-cutter, was working at 
the cemetery, near the church of Santo Spirito ; a man passed by and 
said : " Peter, what is the best mouthful ? " Fullone answered : " An 
egg ; " and stopped. 

A year later Fullone was working in the same place, sitting on the 
ground and breaking stones. The man who had questioned him the 
year before passed by again and said : " Peter, with what ? " meaning : 
what is good to eat with an egg. " With salt," answered Peter Fullone. 
He had such a wise head that after a year he remembered a thing that 
a passer-by had said. 

The cemetery alluded to, Pitre says, is beyond the gate of St. Agatha, 
near the ancient church of Sto. Spirito, where the Sicilian Vespers 
began. An interesting article on Peter Fullone maybe found in Pitre, 
Studi di Poesia popolare, p. 109, " Pietro Fullone e le Sfide popolari 
siciliane." 

The sight-seer in Florence has noticed, on the east side of the 
square in which the cathedral stands, a block of stone built into the 
wall of a house, and bearing the inscription, " Sasso di Dante.''' 1 The 
guide-books inform the traveller that this is the stone on which the 
great poet was wont to sit on summer evenings. Tradition says that 
an unknown person once accosted Dante seated in his favorite place, 
and asked : " What is the best mouthful ? " Dante answered : " An 
egg." A year after, the same man, whom Dante had not seen mean- 



382 NOTES 

while, approached and asked : " With what ? " Dante immediately re- 
plied : " With salt." 

A poet, Carlo Gabrielli, put this incident into rhyme, and drew from 
it the following moral (senso) : — 

" L' acuto ingegno grande apporta gloria ; 
Maggior, se v'h congiunta alta memoria." 

See Papanti, op. cit. pp. 183, 205. 

26. This story is told in almost the same words in Pitre, No. 297, 
" The Peasant and the King." There are several Italian literary ver- 
sions, the best known being in the Cento nov. ant. ed. Borghini, Nov. 
VI. : see D'Ancona's notes to this novel in the Romania, III. p. 185, 
"Le Fonti del Novellino." It is also found in the Gesta Romanorum, 
cap. 57, see notes in Oesterley's edition; and in Simrock's Deutsche 
Marchen, No. 8, see Liebrecht's notes in Orient und Occident, III. p. 
372. To the above may, finally, be added Kohler's notes to Gonz., No. 
50 (II. p. 234). 

27. Comparetti, No. 43, " La Ragazza astuta " (Barga). The first 
part of the story, dividing the fowl, and sending the presents, which 
are partly eaten on the way, is found in Gonz., No. 1, " Die Kluge 
Bauemtochter'''' ("The Peasant's Clever Daughter "). See Kohler's 
notes to Gonz., No. 1 (II. 205) ; and to Nasr-eddin's Schwanke in 
Orient tmd Occident, I. p. 444. Grimm, No. 94, " The Peasant's Wise 
Daughter," contains all the episodes of the Italian story except the di- 
vision of the fowl. An Italian version in the Fiabe Mant. No. 36, 
" La giovane accorta" contains the episode of the mortar. The king 
sends word to the clever daughter that she must procure for him some 
ahime (sneeze) salad. She sent him some ordinary salad with some 
garlic sprinkled over it, and when he touched it he sneezed (and formed 
the sound represented by the word ahime). The rest of the story con- 
tains the episode lacking in the other popular Italian versions, but 
found in Grimm, and technically known as " halb geritten?" 1 For this 
episode see Gesta Romanorutn, ed. Oesterley, cap. 124, and Pauli, 423. 

Another Italian version from Bergamo may be found in Corazzini, 
p. 482, "La Storia del Pestu d' or" (" The Story of the Gold Pes- 
tle "), which is like the version in the text from the episode of the mor- 
tar on. In the story from Bergamo it is a gold pestle, and not a mor- 
tar, that is found, and the story of " halb geritten " is retained. The 
episode of the foal is changed into a sharp answer made (at the queen's 
suggestion) by the king's herdsman to his master, who had failed to 
pay him for his services. A version from Montale, Nerucci, p. 18, "// 
Mortajo d' oro " (" The Golden Mortar "), contains all the episodes of 
the story in the text (including " halb geritten ") except the division of 
the fowl. The first part of the story is found in a tale from Cyprus, in 
the Jahrb. XI. p. 360. 

A parallel to the story in our text may also be found in Ralston's 



STORIES AND JESTS. 383 

R. F. T. p. 30. The literature of the story of "The Clever Girl" 
may be found in Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Part I. 
p. 6, " The Elfin Knight." 

28. Fiabe Mantovane, No. 41, " Gdmbara." The Italian for crab 
is gambero. There is a Tuscan story (Nov. pop. tosc. p. 8), " // Med- • 
ico grillo " (" Doctor Cricket "), with reference perhaps to the other 
meaning of grillo, whim, fancy, which reminds one of the story in the 
text. The pretended doctor cures a king's daughter by making her 
laugh so hard that she dislodges a fish-bone that had stuck in her 
throat. Doctor Cricket becomes so popular that the other doctors 
starve, and finally ask the king to kill him. The king refuses, but sets 
him a difficult task to do, namely, to cure all the patients in the hospi- 
tal ; failing to accomplish this, he is to be killed or dismissed. Doctor 
Cricket has a huge cauldron of water heated, and then goes into the 
wards and tells the patients that when the water is hot they are all to 
be put into it, but if any one wishes to depart he can go away then. 
Of course they all run away in haste, and when the king comes the 
hospital is empty. The doctor is then richly rewarded, and returns to 
his home. 

For parallels to our story see Pitre's notes, vol. IV. p. 442, and to 
the Tuscan story above-mentioned. 

Another Tuscan version has recently been published in Nov. tosc. 
No. 60. ' See also Grimm, No. 98 ; AsbjWnsen, Ny Sam. No. 82 
[Dasent, Tales from the Fj eld, p. 139, "The Charcoal Burner"] ; Ca- 
ballero, Cuentos, p. 68 ; Orient und Occident, I. 374 ; and Benfey, Pant. 
I. 374. There is a story in Straparola (XIII. 6) that recalls the story 
in our text. A mother sends her stupid son to find "good day" (il 
buon de). The youth stretched himself in the road near the city gate 
where he could observe all those who entered or left the town. Now 
it happened that three citizens had gone out into the fields to take pos- 
session of a treasure that they had discovered. On their return they 
greeted the youth in the road with " good day." The youth said, 
when the first one saluted him : " I have one of them," meaning one 
of the good days, and so on with the other two. The citizens who had 
found the treasure, believing that they were discovered, and that the 
youth would inform the magistrates of the find, shared the treasure 
with him. 



384 NOTES. 



LIST OF WORKS MOST FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO 
IN THE NOTES. 

{For works relating directly to Italian Popular Tales, see Bibliog- 
raphy.) 

Asbjarnsen : Norske Folke-Eventyr fortalte af P. Chr. Asbjornsen. 
Ny Samling. Christiania, 1871. 8°. [English version in Tales from 
the Fjeld. A second series of Popular Tales from the Norse of P. 
Chr. Asbjornsen. By G. W. Dasent, London, 1874.] 

AsbJ0rnsen and Moe : Norse Folke-Eventyr fortalte af P. Chr. As- 
bjarnsen og j0i'gen Moe. 5 te Udgave. Christiania, 1874. 8°. [Partly 
translated by G. W. Dasent in Popular Tales from the Norse. 2d 
ed. Edinburgh, 1859. New York, 1859.] 

Basque Legends : collected, chiefly in the Labourd, by the Rev. Went- 
worth Webster. London, 2d ed. 1879. 8°. 

Benfey, Pantschatantra : Fiinf Biicher indischer Fabeln, Marchen und 
Erzahlungen, Aus dem Sanskrit ubersetzt mit Einleitung und An- 
merkungen von Theodor Benfey. Erster Theil, Einleitung. Leip- 
zig, 1859. 8°. 

Blade" : Contes populaires recueillis en Agenais par M. Jean-Francois 
Blade" suivis de notes comparatives par M. Reinhold Kohler. Paris, 
1874. 8°. 

Brueyre : Contes populaires de la Grande-Bretagne par Loys Brueyre. 
Paris, 1875. 8°- 

Cosquin, Emmanuel : Contes populaires lorrains recueillis dans un 
village du Barrois, a Montiers-sur-Baulx (Meuse), Romania, V. 83, 
133; VI. 212, 529; VII. 527; VIII. 545 ; IX. 377; X. 117, 543- 

Cox : The Mythology of the Aryan Nations. By G. W. Cox. 2 vols. 
London, 1870. 8°. 

Dunlop-Liebrecht : Geschichte der Prosadichtung. Aus dem engli- 
schen von F. Liebrecht. Berlin, 1851. 8°. 

Folk- Lore Record, London, 1 879-1 882. 5 vols. 8°. 

Gesammtabenteuer. Von F. H. von der Hagen. 3 vols. Stuttgart 
and Tubingen, 1850. 8°. 

Gesta Romanorum von Herm. Oesterley. Berlin, 1872. 8°. 

Graesse, J. G. T. : Die grossen Sagenkreise des Mittelalters. Dres- 
den und Leipzig, 1842. 8°. 

Grimm, The Brothers : Grimm's Household Tales. With the Author's 
Notes translated from the German and edited by M. Hunt. With 
an Introduction by A. Lang, M. A. In two volumes. London : G. 
Bell & Sons. 1884. (Bohn's Standard Library.) [This excellent ver- 
sion contains all the stories and notes of the third edition of the 



LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. 385 

original text, Gottingen, 1856, the third volume of which, contain- 
ing the notes, is rather scarce. The numbers of the stories corre- 
spond in the German and English editions, and the latter will be 

cited for the convenience of the reader.] 
Grundtwig : Danske Folkeminder, Viser, Sagn og Eventyr. Udgivne 

af Svend Grundtwig. KJ0benhavn, 1861. iste-jdie Samling. 8°. 
Hahn: Griechische und Albanesische Marchen. Gesammelt, iiber- 

setzt und erlautert von J. G. von Hahn. Leipzig, 1864. 2 vols. 8°. 
Halliwell, J. O. : Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales. London, 

1849. 12°. 
Kreutzwald : Ehstnische Marchen. Aufgezeichnet von Friedrich 

Kreutzwald. Halle, 1869. 8°. 
Luzel : Cont'es bretons recueillis et traduits par F. M. Luzel. Quim- 

perle', 1870. 8°. 
MeTusine: Revue de Mythologie, Litt. pop., Traditions et usages, 

dirige'e par MM. H. Gaidoz et E. Rolland. Paris, 1877, 1884. 4 . 
Nisard, Ch. : Histoire des Livres populaires. Paris, 1854. 2 vols. 8°. 
Novelle Ant. Biagi. Le Novelle Antiche dei codici Panciatichiano- 

Palatino 138 e Laurenziano-Gaddiano 193, con una introduzione etc 

per Guido Biagi. Florence, 1880. 8°. 
Novelle Ant. Borg : Le Cento Novelle Antiche secondo 1' edizione del 

MDXXV. corrette ed illustrate con note. Milano, 1825. 8°. 
Novelle Ant. Gualt. : Cento Novelle Antiche. Libro di Novelle e di 

Bel parlar gentile (Gualteruzzi da Fano). Florence (Naples), 

1727. 8°. 
Novelle Ant. Papanti. Romania, vol. III. p. 189. 
Old Deccan Days, or Hindoo Fairy Legends. Collected by M. Frere. 

Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co. 1868. 
Orient und Occident insbes. in ihren gegenwartigen Beziehungen. 

Forschungen und Mittheilungen. Eine Vierteljahrschrift heraus- 

gegeben von Theodor Benfey. Vols I.— III. Gottingen, 1 860-1 864. 

8°. 
Ralston : Russian Folk-Tales. By W. R. S. Ralston. London, 1873. 

8°. [There is an American reprint, without date.] 
Robert: Fables inedites des XI I^ XI He, XI Ve Siecles et Fables de 

La Fontaine. Par A. C. M. Robert. 2 vols. Paris, 1825. 8°. 
Romania: Recueil Trimestriel consacre a l'etude des langues et des 

litteratures romanes. Publie' par P. Meyer et G. Paris. Paris, 1872, 

still in course of publication. 
Rondallayre, lo : Quentos populars Catalans coleccionats per F. Mas- 

pons y Labros. Barcelona, 1871. 18 . 
Schiefner, F. Anton von : Tibetan Tales, done into English from the 

German, with an Introduction by W. R. S. Ralston, M. A. London, 

1882 (Triibner's Oriental Series). 
Stokes, Maive : Indian Fairy Tales. With notes by Mary Stokes, and 

an Introduction by W. R. S. Ralston, M. A. London, 1880. 



386 NOTES. 

Sacre Rappresentazioni dei Secoli XIV., XV., XVI. Raccolte e illus- 
trate per cura di Alessandro D'Ancona. Florence, 1872. 3 vols. 16 . 

Schimpf und Ernst : J. Pauli. Herausgegeben von Herm. Oesterley. 
Bibliothek des Litt. Vereins in Stuttgart. Bd. LXXXV. Stutt- 
gart, 1866. 8°. 

Tausend und Eine Nacht. Arabische Erzahlungen. Deutsch von M. 
Habicht, von der Hagen und C. Schall. Breslau, 1836. 15 vols. 8°. 

Wendunmuth : Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof, Wendunmuth. Herausge- 
geben von Herm. Oesterley. Bibliothek des Litt. Vereins in Stutt- 
gart. Bd. XCV.-XCIX. 5 vols. 8°. Tubingen, 1869. 



INDEX. 



Admonitions, the Three, story of, 157. 
Andromeda, or Princess freed from Dragon, 

33S- 
Angiola, the Fair, story of, 26. 
Animal brothers-in-law, 60 ; animal children, 

324; animals, dispute of, settled by hero, 

3i- 
Ant and the Mouse, story of the, 376. 
Apple, unequally divided, indicates true 

friend, 204. 
Ass, story of the, 190. 
Ass that lays Money, story of the, 123. 

Baker's Apprentice, story of the, 212. 

Barber, story of the, 241. 

Basile, Giambattista, xi. 

Bastanielo, story of, 279. 

Beauty and the Beast, 7. 

Beppo Pipetta, story of, 222. 

Bierde, story of, 68. 

Bird, magic, bestowing gifts, 43 ; bird, trans- 
formation into, 2, 13. 

Blood of children restores uncle to life, 87. 

Bluebeard, 77. 

Bone of hero as musical instrument discov- 
ering murderers, 41 ; human bone to be 
eaten, 81. 

Bonhomme Misere, 215, 222, 367. 

Boots, magic, faster than wind, 143. 

Bottles, seven, filled with tears, 322. 

Bride, the Forgotten, 58, 71 

Bride, the True, 57, 71, 102. 

Brother Giovannone, story of, 217. 

Brothers, three, born from mother eating 
magic fish, 30. 

Buchettino, story of, 265. 

Bucket, story of the, 100. 

Buddha, parable of, 294. 

Buttadeu, story of, 197. 

Capon divided in peculiar manner, 311. 

Cat and the Mouse, story of the, 257. 

Catherine and her Fate, story of, 105. 

Cento Novelle Antiche, 154, 188. 

Chess, winning at, disposes of princess's 
hand, 123. 

Chick-Pea, Little, story of, 242. 

Children born from chick-peas, 243 ; from fish, 
3°> 335!. apple-peel, 344; Children prom- 
ised to witches, 25 ; to Devil, 136. 

Christmas, story of, 283. 

Cinderella, story of, 42. 

Cistern, story of the, 36. 

Clever Girl, story of the, 311. 

Clever Peasant, story of the, 309. 

Cloak that renders invisible, 123, 1 

Cloud, story of the, 30. 



Cobbler, the, story of, 94. 

Cock, story of the, 270. 

Cock and the Mouse, story of the, 252. 

Cock that wished to become Pope, story of 

the, 272. 
Constantine's leprosy healed by St. Silvester, 

202. 
Cook, story of the, 275. 
Crab, story of, 314. 
Crivoliu, story of, 198. 
Cross protects child against Devil, 137. 
Crumb in the Beard, story of the, no. 
Crystal Casket, story of the, 326. 
^ukasaptati, Oriental collection of tales, 167, 

359- 
Cupid and Psyche, 1, 77. 
Cure by laughing, 119, 347. 
Curse of the Seven Children, story of the, 

Cymbal, prince concealed in, 64. 

Danae, 336. 

Dante, 309, 381. 

Daughters, two, good and bad, 100. 

Der Kaiser und der Abt, Burger's poem of, 

275. 
Devil, how the, married Three Sisters, story 

of, 7 S. 
Disciplina Clericalis of Petrus Alphonsi, 154, 

157. 352, 355. 
Doctor's Apprentice, story of the, 287. 
Dog's face, by witch's imprecation, 29; dogs 

substituted for queen's children, 19. 
Doll which moves, sees, and dresses itself, 

114; king's son in love with, 117, 180. 
Don Firiulieddu, story of, 241. 
Don Joseph Pear, story of, 127. 
Don Juan, 235. 
Don Quixote, 155. 
Doves recall forgotten bride, 75; indicate 

future Pope, 200. 

Eagle carries hero up from cave, 40. 

Eat, My Clothes! story of, 296. 

Egg which kills fairy, 32. 

Eyes, diseased, cured by feather of griffin, 40. 

Fables of Oriental origin, 150, 353. 
Fabliaux, French, 149, 352. 
Fair Brow, story of, 131. 
Fairies' gifts, 19, 99, 100, 102. 
Fate personified, 105. 
Feast Day, a, story of, 261. 
Figs producing horns, 121. 
Fiorita, the Fair, story of, 61. 
Firrazzanu, stories of, 289, 290 ; Firrazzami's 
Wife and the Queen, 288. 



/ 



388 



INDEX. 



Flesh of hero given to eagle, 40. 

Flight of lovers and pursuit by witch, 28, 74, 

335- 
Fool, story of the, 302. 
Forbidden chamber, 77, 79. 
Fountain of wine and oil, 72. 
Fox as Puss in Boots, 127. 

Gentleman who kicked a Skull, story of the, 
236. 

Gesta Romanorum, 183. 

Giant with no heart in his body, 32, 335, 355; 
giant outwitted by men, 89, 94, 95. 

Giufa's Exploits, story of, 297. 

Giufa and the Judge, story of, 293. 

Giufa and the Plaster Statue, story of, 291. 

Goat and the Fox, story of the, 375. 

Goat, the Iron, 256. 

Godfather and Godmother of St. John who 
made love, story of, 228. 

Godfather Misery, story of, 221. 

Godmother Fox, 254. 

Gold, magician's body turned to, 333. 

Gossips of St. John, story of the, 369. 

Gregory on the Stone, 198, 363. 

Griffin, story of the, 40. 

Grimm's Tales cited in text : Allerleirauh, 42 ; 
Brother Lustig, 215; Clever Alice, 279; 
Clever People, 279 ; Doctor Knowall, 314; 
Faithful John, 85 ; Feather Bird [Fitcher's 
Bird], 77 ; Golden Goose, 261 ; Goose-Girl, 
57 ; Handless Maiden, 25 ; King Thrush- 
beard, 109 ; Little Mouse, Little Bird, and 
the Sausage, 260 ; Master Thief, 215 ; Rob- 
ber Bridegroom, 77 ; Spider and the Flea, 

■ 256 ; White and the Black Bride, 58 ; Wood- 
cutter's Child [Our Lady's Child], 77. 

Groomsman, story of the, 231. 

Hair, tresses used as ladder, 3, 27, 72, 83, 

335- 
Hands, clasped, prevent child's birth, 6. 
Heart of saint eaten by maiden produces child, 

208. 
Hermit as adviser, 7, 14, 20. 
Horn that blows out soldiers, 123. 
House that Jack built, 247. 
Humpbacks, the Two, story of, 103. 
Hump removed by fairies, 103 ; added to 

humpback, 104. 

In this World one weeps and another laughs, 

story of, 190. 
Ingrates, story of the, 150. 

Joseph and his Brethren, 211. 
Journey of our Saviour on Earth, 189. 
Judas, story of, 195. 
Just Man, story of the, 226. 

King Bean, story of, 12. 

King, Crystal, story of the, 6. 

King John and the Abbot of Canterbury, Per- 
cy's poem of, 275. 

King Lear, 333. 

King of Love, story of the, 1. 

King who wanted a Beautiful Wife, story of 
the, 97. 

Kiss of mother makes hero forget bride, 71, 
74, 343- 

La Fontaine, fables of, cited, 149, 294. 
Language of Animals, story of the, 161. 
Leprosy healed by human blood, 207. 
Life-giving ointment or leaves, 326. 
Lionbruno, story of, 136. 
Long May, 284. 



Lord, St. Peter, and the Apostles, story of 

the, 1 86. 
Lord, St. Peter, and the Blacksmith, story of 

the, 188. 
Lord's Will, 192. 
Love of the Three Oranges, story of the, 338. 

Malchus at the Column, story of, 197. 

Malchus, Desperate, story of, 196. 

Man, the Serpent, and the Fox, story of the, 

354- 
Maria Wood, Fair, story of, 48. 
Mason and his Son, story of the, 163. 
Massariol, domestic spirit of the Venetians, 

237- 
Medusa, 336. 
Melusina, 1. 
Mother-in-law ill-treats son's wife, 56; killed 

by boiling oil, 57. 
Mr. Attentive, story of, 240. 

Nala, story of, in Italian popular tale, 360. 
Nero, 308. 

Occasion, story of, 215. 

Old Deccan Days, stories from, cited, 85. 

Omelet, Little, story of the, 294. 

Oraggio and Bianchinetta, story of, 58. 

Oriental elements in Italian popular tales, 149, 

352. 
Orlanda, the Fairy, story of, 114. 

Pandora's box, 5. 

Pantschatantra, Italian versions of, 351. 

Parish Priest of San Marcuola, story of, 234. 

Parnell's Hermit, 210, 365. 

Parrot, story of the, first version, 168 ; second 
version, 169 ; third version, 173. 

Peasant and the Master, story of the, 150. 

Penance, Knight's, 227. 

Pentamerone, xi. 

Pepper-Corn, story of, 375. 

Perrault, Charles, xii. 

Persecution of innocent wife, 326. 

Peter Fullone and the Egg, story of, 381. 

Physician, wife disguised as, 15 ; princess dis- 
guised as, 170. 

Pier delle Vigne, 159. 

Pig, little, that would not go over the stile, 
247. 

Pilate, story of, 194. 

Pitidda, story of, 248. 

Polyphemus, myth of, 89. 

Pot that cooks without any fire, 305. 

Proverbial sayings, 308, 309. 

Purse always full of money, 19, 120, 143. 

Puss in Boots, story of, 348; 

Rabbit that carries things, 304. 

Rain of figs and raisins, 380. 

Rampsinitus, treasure house of, 163. 

Riddle, bride won by solving, 66 ; proposed by 
suitor, 68 ; in general, 343. 

Ring, as means of recognition, 51 ; turns red 
and stops steamer at owner's forgetfulness, 
114; ring which causes sneezing, 119. 

Rose discovers concealed princess, 65. 

Ruby, magic, does all that owner asks, 138. 

Saddaedda, story of, 238. 

St. James of Galicia, story of, 202. 

St. Oniric or Neria, 208. 

St. Peter and the Robbers, 185. 

St. Peter's Mamma, 192. 

St. Peter and his Sisters, story of, 193. 

Sanctuary, privilege of, 38. 

Samelli, Pompeo, Bishop of Bisceglie, xii. 



INDEX. 



389 



Scissors they were, story of, 285. 
Sepher Haggadah, Jewish hymn in, 375. 
Seven Wise Masters, the 159, 160, 161, 167, 

168 ; Italian versions of, 351 ; in general, 

358 ; Magyar version, 359. 
Sexton's Nose, story of the, 250. 
Shepherd, story of the, 156. 
Shepherd who made the King's Daughter 

laugh, story of the, 119. 
Shoes, iron, worn out in search of husband, 7, 

322; in search of wife, 142. 
Sick prince and secret remedy, 325. 
Silence of princess disenchants brothers, 55. 
Sir Fiorante, Magician, story of, 322. 
Sisters' envy, 7, 17. 
Sisters, Two, 58, 338. 

Skein of silk outweighs king's treasures, 108. 
Sleep, magic, 82. 
Slipper, lost by Cinderella, 46. 
Snake, youngest daughter marries, 322. 
Snow-White-Fire-Red, story of, 72. 
Star on daughter's brow, 18, 101. 
Statue, in love with ? story of, 85 . 
Statue, transformation into, 22, 34, 86. 
Stepmother, story of the, 331. 
Stepmother persecutes daughter-in-law, 326, 

33'- 
Stick, magic, beats thief, 125. 
Straparola, Giovan Francesco, x. 
Sultan's daughter, 132. 
Swan-maidens, 76. 
Sympathetic objects; ring, 11, 19; fishbone, 

30 ; in general, 326. 

Tablecloth, magic, producing food, 120, 125. 

Tasks, 5, 7, 30; set suitor by father-in law, 65. 

Thankful Dead, episode of, 131, 350, 364. 

Thirteenth, story of, 90. 

Thoughtless Abbot, story of the, 276. 

Thousand and One Nights, stones from in 
Italian popular tales, 151 ; Aladdin and the 
Wonderful Lamp, 152; Forty Thieves, 152, 



Third Calendar, 153; Two Envious Sisters, 
153 ; The Hunchback, 153 ; The Ass, the 
Ox, and the Peasant, 153; Prince Ahmed 
and the Fairy Peribanu, 153 ; SinbacTs 
Fourth Voyage, 153 ; The Second Royal 
Mendicant, 153. 

Three Brothers, story of the, 263. 

Three Goslings, story of the, 267. 

Tobit, 211. 

Tokens, magic : apple, pomegranate, crown, 
36. 

Tom Thumb, 242, 372. 

Torches, nuptial, 6. 

Transformation of hero into bird, 2, 13 ; eagle, 
32; ant, 32; lion, 33. See Statue. 

Treasure, story of the, 156. 

Treasure stories, 238. 

True and untrue, 325. 

Truthful Joseph, story of, 184. 

Turkj in Sicilian tales, 1, 2, 178. 

Turkish corsairs, 132. 

Tuti-Nameh, 167, 359. v 

Uncle Capriano, story of, 303. 

Vineyard I was and Vineyard I am, story of, 
159. 

Wager, story of the, 284. 

Wandering Jew, 197, 363. 

Water and Salt, story of, 332. 

Water, Dancing, the Singing Apple, and the 

Speaking Bird, story of the, 17. 
Water of life, 53. 
Whistle that brings dead to life, 306 ; whistle 

which makes people dance, 120. 
Whittington and his Cat, 365. 
Witches' council under tree, 14 ; imprecation, 

338. 
Wooden dress, disguise of heroine, 48. 

Zelinda and the Monster, story of, 7. 



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